A fairly common practice in the Baroque era was for
organists (especially the great J.S. Bach) to
“borrow” and transcribe orchestral music from
themselves or other composers to create spectacular
organ solos. Bach adapted several works by Vivaldi such
as this Concerto in D “Grosso Mogul” originally for
solo violin and strings. The organ and brass pass the
musical material between them and sometimes double at
the octave to create a powerful effect.
In 1713-1714, Bach transcribed ...(+)
A fairly common practice in the Baroque era was for
organists (especially the great J.S. Bach) to
“borrow” and transcribe orchestral music from
themselves or other composers to create spectacular
organ solos. Bach adapted several works by Vivaldi such
as this Concerto in D “Grosso Mogul” originally for
solo violin and strings. The organ and brass pass the
musical material between them and sometimes double at
the octave to create a powerful effect.
In 1713-1714, Bach transcribed at least nine concertos
of Vivaldi, three for solo organ (BWV 593-4, 596), and
six for solo harpsichord (BWV 972-3, 975-6, 978,
980).The most noticeable characteristics of Bach’s
organ concertos after Vivaldi is probably the
arranger’s faithful adherence to the original
compositions: Bach does not change the basic structure
of any of the movements at all. Perhaps because the
transcriptions were intended to be demonstrations of
the Italian concerto form, Bach was reluctant to
introduce any structural alteration to his
transcriptions. More surprising is that many passages
idiomatic to the violin in the original, such as fast
repeated notes and large leaps, are directly
transferred by Bach to the transcribed version without
any modification, resulting in figurations that
keyboard players might feel uncomfortable playing
(e.g., BWV 593/iii/mm. 75-81, Ex. 1). These unidiomatic
passages in his organ concertos did not bother Bach at
all perhaps because the transcriptions were made
“before he had reached his prime as an organ
composer,” Nevertheless, it is at the same time
obvious that Bach has no intention of mechanically
transferring every single note of his models to his
works.
Despite that Bach’s three organ concertos after
Vivaldi may not be written originally for the purpose
of self-education, their impact on Bach is undeniable.
In 1717, Bach was appointed as Kapellmeister at the
court of Anhalt-Cöthen.. Since the prince’s interest
was not in religious works, but rather, in instrumental
compositions, in Cöthen Bach had the opportunity to
compose some very fine concertos, like the six
Brandenburg Concertos, the A-minor and E-major Violin
Concertos (BWV 1041-2), and the D-minor Concerto for
Two Violins (BWV 1043). In these concertos, he could
have adopted the model of Corelli’s concerti grossi,
which consists of a number of short movements
contrasting in character, and does not emphasize the
difference in style between the solo and tutti
sections. However, Bach seemed to have a predilection
for the Vivaldi model perhaps because it is more
“compact and symmetrical” than the Corelli model.
In the opening movement of the A-minor and D-minor
Concertos, a Vivaldi-type ritornello scheme is used.
The long solo episode between the central and
concluding ritornelli in both movements are punctuated
by orchestral references to the opening measures, and
this technique of recalling ritornello materials in
solo sections is also employed in Vivaldi’s Op. 3 No.
8 /i.
Source: "Bach the Transcriber"
(http://web.mit.edu/ckcheung/www/MusicalWritings_files)
.
Although originally written for Organ, I created this
modern interpretation of the Concerto III in C Major
(BWV 594) for Flute & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).