Of all the violin concertos which Bach wrote during his lifetime only three still survived, two (A minor, BWV 1041 and E major, BWV 1042) for solo violin, and one (in D minor, BWV 1043) for two violins (this is often called Bach’s double concerto). The solo works are generally thought to have been composed for the court violinist at Cöthen, Josephus Spiess. Cöthen is a town in Saxony. Bach was for the talented employed as Kapellmeister by the Prince Leopold of Anhalt- Cöthen between 1717 and 1723.
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(1) Donald Jay Grout & Claude V.Palisca, A History of Western Music, (5th ed., New York, 1996), p.403
He composed his music to be performed in every week on Sundays (2). Most likely during period of time, Bach wrote his music for religious use.
The seed of the solo concerto grew from the concerto grosso genre which was popular during the Baroque era. It was a single instrument playing alongside and against with the weight of full orchestra. Besides, the composers during this time liked to write a difficult and technical passages for the soloist. In the Baroque period, most of the solo concertos were consisted of three movement, quick : slow : quick. The quick movement was generally in ritornello form (3). According to the Oxford Composer Companions J.S.Bach, ritornello is a passage written for the full complement of instruments (and sometimes voices) that recurs in various guises during the course of a movement. Ritornello, simply means ‘return’.
All Bach’s violin concertos are three-movement works following Vivaldi’s use of the concerto form. Through the concerto, we can see how Bach contributed and introduced new ideas in his music. His violin concertos include the solo concertos A minor and E major and a double violin concerto in D minor. In this essay, I wish to focus on the details of Bach’s solo violin concerto in A minor and E minor have been used for discussion. Details of Vivialdi’s concerto form and Bach’s D minor ‘double’ concerto will not be covered in this essay.
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(2) http://www.classicalarchives.com/bios/bach_bio_hl.html (Access dated 22 Dec, 2006)
(3) Roy Bennett, History of Music, (Cambridge, 1987), p.35
Bach uses ritornello form regularly in his concerto. These features clearly show us how much Bach had been inspired by and worked to transform the kind of concerto which Vivaldi wrote before him. Although, all Bach’s violin concertos are three-movement works (following Vivaldi’s use of the concerto form). Bach introduced some new ideas and techniques to enrich the piece. His concertos always emphasise on strong melodic lines over an ostinato bass in the slow movements. Ostinato bass is kind of recurrent bass. This means repeating the use of the same pattern of bass line through a portion of the whole movement. Moreover, Bach enriched the texture of his concertos with thematic accompaniment, counterpoint, interrupting the ritornello with solo passages and chromaticism. These were not often found in Vivaldi’s violin concertos. A brief summary of the structure of Bach’s A minor Violin concerto is shown in following table:
First Movement
The first movement is in ritornello form and in 2/4 time. The key signature changes in every section of this movement and back to the tonic key in the last section. In this movement, the first twenty-four bars dominate the whole movement (4) and the first and second violins play the main theme in unison which is the first Ritornello. Also, the key changes at every ritornello and episode, but returns back to the tonic home key in the final Ritornello.
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(4)Malcolm Boyd, Bach, (New York, 2000)
The detail of the structure of the first movement is shown in following chart (5):
In the opening of a movement from a Vivaldi concerto, it was normally written as a tutti (e.g. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons). Bach used the same composing technique but introduced some ideas of doubling the solo and first violin in unison lasting for twenty-four bars. (See Example 1 below) This little section ends with a change of key to the dominant major of the tonic key. We can see clearly that how Bach announced the main theme in the opening. Besides, the extension of the motivic idea can be seen throughout the entire piece.
Example 1 (First Movement bar 1-9)
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(5) Frank Howes, “Johann Sebastian Bach”, The Concerto, ed. by Ralph Hill, (UK, 1966)
The first time it reappears in bar 43-44 (See Example 2 below) from the first movement.
Example 2 (First Movement bar 43-44)
After the end of the opening section, the solo violin comes in and plays the first episode in the key of A minor. In these 27 bars, Bach enriched the texture by means of thematic accompaniment. This means the fragment of motive ideas has been used in accompany parts. (See Example 3 below)
Example 3 (First Movement bar 31-34)
The Ritornello II begins on last quaver beat of bar 51 in the key of C Major. Later on, the solo violin and first violin play the melodic line in unison in bar 55. It is not difficult to recognise the second Ritornello II here. Based on the traditional structures, Bach attempts to introduce the new technique that you can not be found in Vivaldi. In bar 61-62, Bach transformes the style of Vivaldi’s concerto composition by interrupting the ritornellos with the solo passages the one seen in example 4 below.
Example 4 (First Movement bar 59-63)
In bar 85, the solo violin enters in the key of E minor. It is Episode II. Apart from the Ritornello II and Episode II, Bach uses the tonic as the opening key of the every section in this section. Until the fourth section in bar 89 there, the semi-quaver note value is mainly used by Bach to colour and intertwine the melodic line. Bach uses the tutti once again to interrupt the solo violin in bar 114. This is a different when compare the interruption in Ritornello II by. In Ritornello II, it is solo interruption by solo violin (See example 5 below)
Example 5 (First Movement bar 114)
Backing to the home key, A minor in the last section bar 143, Bach has written a section which is the typical song writing in a Baroque style. Also, this section ends with the key of A minor (Home key). After going through the whole movement, some important features of style need to be pointed out. Firstly, Bach introduces the thematic accompaniment to enrich the texture. Secondly, he builds on the ritornello form to develop the music further by interrupting the ritornellos with solo passages.
In the first movement of the violin concerto in E major BWV 1042, Bach had intended to retain the idea of interrupting the ritornello. But he used this feature far more than in the first movement of his A minor. For example, the solo interruption starts in bar 61 (Ritornello II) of the first movement of the A minor concerto. In the first movement of the E major concerto however, the solo interruption starts in bar 4 and is used far more frequently to develop the concerto.
Bach used the ‘Da capo form’ in the first movement of his E major concerto. According to the Oxford Composer Companions J.S.Bach, ‘Da capo’ is an Italian term (often abbreviated as ‘D.C.’) meaning ‘from the head’, placed at the end of a movement or section to indicate that a piece is to be repeated from the beginning until word ‘fine’ (‘end’) or a fermata is reached. The opening of the first movement (E major concerto) was started by three hammer-stroke style (6) with the tonic chord. (See Example 6 below).
Example 6 (First Movement bar 1)
This motive reappears frequently throughout the first movement. It shows how united his Bach’s music is. In his A minor concerto, Bach united the music by integrating the solo line and the tutti in bar 25-28. (See Example 7 below)
Example 7 (First Movement bar 25-28)
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(6) Michael Thomas Roeder, A History of The Concerto, (Hong Kong, 1994), p79
Besides, the main theme was announced firmly by the solo violin and first violin in unison. It is the same as his concerto in A minor.
Although, Bach introduced the new ideas in his composition, he still intended to preserve the Vivaldi style by repeating the same note in semi-quaver in bar 4, 5, 6, 25, 26 etc., as seen in Vivaldi’s “Four Season”. But this style cannot be found in the A minor concerto (See Example 8 below)
Example 8 (First Movement bar 4)
The first section ends in the tonic key E major and the middle follows in C sharp minor in bar 53. In this section, the three hammer motive appeares in the accompanment part. Bach kept the use of repeating semiquavers by modifying them to two different notes in bar 57 onwards. (See example 9 below)Example 9 (First Movement bar 57)
In this section, the double stop was used by Bach in bar 96. Double stops means two notes play together in string instrument. It was not a common feature in Bach’s violin compositions. He used the double stop to interweave the counterpoint in the solo violin which of course was given the highest honor in Bach’s writing. Then the section is closed with G sharp minor by solo violin in a cadenza-like passage. And it followed by the repeated section A afterward.
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Written by Cheng Po Chun @2007
