How many bach brandenburg concertos are there

Bach composed this famous collection of six concertos BWV between , although they weren't known as the 'Brandenburg' Concertos until years later. Written between for Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, they are based on the Italian concerto grosso style. They changed music by demonstrating the potential of an already-established form. Bach gave each instrumental family solo opportunities and created unusual combinations, like inclusion of violas and violas da gamba in No.

Each of the six concertos appeals most to different listeners, from the galumphing first, the more stately second, the homely third, the lofty fourth and the galloping fifth right through to the joyous sixth. They form a sort of musical job application; Bach packaged them up for the Margrave in the hope that he might secure some form of employment.

Concerto No. As the concerto begins, all three soloists share equally, but the harpsichord becomes increasingly dominant and finally bursts into an extended solo cadenza, fully constructed by Bach. In the second movement, only the soloists play, with the violin and flute frequently paired in contrast to the harpsichord. Bach begins the third movement with only the soloists, gradually bringing in the ripieno one section at a time, reestablishing its concerto nature.

The grand finale of the evening is Concerto No. In the outer movements, all four soloists share the same material; no idiosyncratic differentiation between instruments. The Andante is for flute, oboe, solo violin and continuo. The outer movements have the energy of Vivaldi, however the brilliant fugal writing of the last Allegro is distinctively Bach.

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He might have doubted that his prospects could be advanced much by the Margraf, who was a man of great rank but little power. The Electorate of Brandenburg had for decades been part of the kingdom of Prussia, and the Margraf owed his title to being the Prussian king's younger brother.

What is clear is that the Margraf never acknowledged receiving the manuscript and never had the Concertos performed. The reason for this is equally clear: the Margraf's small musical establishment could not begin to cope with the Concertos' wide variety of instruments and extreme technical difficulty. From a modern vantage point, it is not hard to see that the Concertos require top-flight players for the horn parts in the First Concerto, the violin in the Fourth, and the harpsichord in the Fifth.

The trumpet part in the Second Concerto, written for the valveless Baroque trumpet, is still a major challenge for players on the valved piccolo trumpet which makes for surer execution but creates balance problems since, unlike the Baroque trumpet, it is vastly louder than the other instruments in the ensemble.

What is less obvious to the modern concertgoer, accustomed to piece orchestras supported by industrial wealth and cities with populations of millions, is that it would have been a major project for the Margraf's musicians just to cover all the parts, let alone play them well.

Horns were new to the orchestra in , and not available everywhere. Not every court had three oboes for the First Concerto , or three cellos or violas for the Third. The First Concerto calls for a piccolo violin tuned a minor third higher than a normal one.

It was apparently not a common instrument, though its rarity would not have deterred Bach, an enthusiastic instrumental experimenter who elsewhere wrote for such unusual instruments as the viola pomposa a five-string combination violin and viola , oboe da caccia, slide trumpet, violoncello piccolo, and tenor oboe.

Yet, paradoxically, the Brandenburgs present instrumentation problems that a modern symphony orchestra can cope with only by, as it were, faking it. Bach specified some instruments that modern symphonic players don't play, or which would be ineffective with modern instruments in a large concert hall. Piccolo violins are, if anything, harder to come by now than in , and while period-instrument groups will use them, the mainstream symphonic violinist tends to play the First Concerto on a normal-sized instrument.