Program notes

by Martin Pearlman

Bach, Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052

         In our time, when piano concertos are so common, it can be difficult to feel how innovative Bach's harpsichord concertos were.  In his time, the harpsichord was traditionally used to accompany other instruments, but with Bach, the great keyboard virtuoso, the harpsichord suddenly became a concerto soloist.

         This concerto opens with a powerful, jagged theme played by all the instruments in octaves.  The harpsichord then becomes the soloist playing virtuosic, driving sixteenth notes culminating in a dramatic cadenza that leads to the return of the opening ritornello to end the movement.  The slow movement begins with a twelve-bar ground bass that repeats continually throughout, as the soloist plays a florid melody over it.  With the third movement, Bach returns to the forceful, driving character of the opening.  Here too the solo harpsichord part builds climactically to a brief cadenza before the closing ritornello.

         This work is thought to be a transcription that Bach would have made of a lost concerto from his earlier years in Cöthen (1717-1723).  It was obviously a piece that he valued, since he made several versions of it.  The lost original was probably for violin, and several attempts have been made to reconstruct the original violin concerto.  Bach then reused this music in two of his cantatas: Cantata No. 146, which features the first two movements and Cantata No. 188, which has the third movement. These cantata versions, however, are for organ solo with a somewhat enlarged ensemble that includes oboes.  The best known version, though, is the final harpsichord version, which we hear today.  It comes comes from the mid-1730's, and the solo part was probably played by either Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who copied out the manuscript, or by his father in their concerts at Zimmermann's Coffee House in Leipzig.   

         This is a work that continued to fascinate composers long after Bach's death.  It was performed a number of times on piano during the nineteenth century, including by Mendelssohn, and Brahms wrote a cadenza for the last movement. 

Handel, Water Music Suite in G

         At about 8:00 on the evening of July 19, 1717, according to a contemporary newspaper, King George I "took to the water at Whitehall in an open barge. . . and went up the river towards Chelsea.  Many other barges with Persons of Quality attended."  An orchestra accompanied the party on a separate barge, playing "the finest Symphonies, composed express for this Occasion, by Mr. Hendel; which his Majesty liked so well, that he caused it to be plaid over three times in going and returning.  At Eleven his Majesty went a-shore at Chelsea, where a Supper was prepar'd, and then there was another very fine Consort of Musick, which lasted till 2; after which, his Majesty came again into his Barge, and return'd the same way, the Musick continuing to play till he landed." 

         It is now generally accepted that what has come down to us as the Water Music is actually a collection of three suites in different keys and for different combinations of instruments.  Two of the suites, those with horns and trumpets, are clearly outdoor music and call for a large orchestra.  The suite in G major, which features flute and recorder with strings, has the lightest texture of the three and so would presumably have been performed indoors during the dinner at Chelsea.  It is made up of dance movements, although not all of them are named as such.  The opening movement, which has no title, is in the rhythm and style of a Sarabande; it is followed by a Presto which is a Bourrée.  The last two movements are then named dances:  a pair of Menuets and a Country Dance.

Telemann, Recorder/Flute Concerto in E minor

         This beautiful Telemann concerto is written for alto recorder and flute.  When it is played on period instruments, as we are doing today, the flute is a wooden flute.  The result is that we hear a subtle contrast and beautiful blend of two wooden wind instruments in the same range. 

         The last movement of this piece is unusual.  It reflects something that Telemann wrote in an autobiography about a time early in his career when he worked at a small court in Poland.  He says that he loved to go out into the countryside to listen to Polish folk music in taverns or wherever he could find it.  Most of it, he said, was played on violins (sometimes small violins tuned quite high) and on bagpipes (sometimes multiple bagpipes).  Although we tend to think of bagpipes as a Scottish instrument today, at that time there were various kinds of bagpipes in many European countries. 

         He claimed that this "almost barbaric" music influenced him throughout his life, and he was sometimes inspired to write in that style.  But when he did so, he would, as he put it, "dress it up in Italian clothing."  In other words, he'd put it into an Italian style concerto like this one.  And that is what he hear in the last movement of this concerto, where a wild theme plays above the drone of "bagpipes" in the lower strings. 

Corelli, Concerto grosso, Op. 6, No. 10

         The concerto grosso that we play this evening comes from a collection of twelve concerti grossi that was published the year after Corelli's death.  While most of his concertos alternate the traditional slow and fast movements (so-called "church concertos" or concerti da chiesa), this one is a "chamber concerto" (concerto da camera) that also incorporates dance movements:  Allemanda, Corrente, Minuetto.  These movements are based on dance rhythms but are not meant to be danced.  Instead, they are beautiful and elegant evocations of the dance.

         Much of Corelli's career was spent in Rome, where he directed an orchestra that was renowned for its beautiful sound and discipline.  One of his students wrote about the precision he demanded of his players, especially in having them all bow together with the same bow stroke: "He would immediately stop the band if he discovered one irregular bow." One of the great violinists of his time, Corelli was also a famous teacher of the instrument.  He produced some of the finest violinists of the next generation and, through them, he enormously influenced violin technique for generations to come.

Bach, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043

         This exciting and popular work is Bach's only surviving concerto for two melody instruments.  It is thought to come from his time at the court of Cöthen (1717-23), but no manuscript from that time has come down to us.  The earliest one that we have comes from around ten years later.  By that time Bach was directing the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, so he probably had it copied out for a performance of his Collegium at Zimmermann's coffeehouse, where they performed regularly.  He later turned the work into a concerto for two harpsichords, but this original version for two violins is the one that is most famous and most often heard.