The Violin Concerto in
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major.
The A natural minor scale is:
:
Changes ...
,
BWV 1041, was composed by
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
. While it is "generally thought to have been composed at
Köthen in 1717–23",
Christoph Wolff has argued that the work may have been written in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
during Bach's time as director of the
Collegium Musicum
The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German-Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century.
Generally, while societies such as the (chorale) cultivated ...
;
John Butt also believes that Bach wrote it "probably soon after taking over the Leipzig Collegium Musicum in 1729". In any event, the only autograph source to survive are parts Bach copied out (along with other copyists) in Leipzig circa 1730
[Christoph Wolff, "Bach's Leipzig Chamber Music," in ''Bach: Essays on His Life and Work'', Harvard University Press, 1991, pp. 234–37] from a now lost score or draft.
Structure and analysis
The piece has three movements:
A typical performance of the concerto takes around 15 minutes.
Instrumentations and transcriptions
The
Clavier Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058 is an arrangement of this concerto with
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
.
References
External links
Violin Concerto in A minor performance by the
Netherlands Bach Society
The Netherlands Bach Society ( nl, Nederlandse Bachvereniging) is the oldest ensemble for Baroque music in the Netherlands, and possibly in the world. The ensemble was founded in 1921 in Naarden to perform Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach's ''St Matthew ...
(video and background information)
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Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach Violin Concerto in A minor
Compositions in A minor
{{concerto-stub
de:Violinkonzerte (Bach)#Violinkonzert a-Moll BWV 1041