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Bach violin concertos
He wrote at least six solo violin concertos, of which only two survive today, and a concerto for two violins and orchestra. Vivaldi was the most important influence in these works, they have a “Vivaldian” structure of three movements, fast-slow-fast. But the music is indeed “Bachian”. We don’t know when he started to write his own concertos. We know that he composed the Brandenburg Concertos sometime before 1721. I indicate that because the 5th Brandenburg Concerto is a concerto for solo harpsichord. I personally think that he wrote this concertos when he was in Leipzig as director of the Collegium Musicum, between 1730 and 1740. During the 1720’s he was the cantor of the St Thomas’ Lutheran Church, and as such he had to provide weekly music at the churches in Leipzig, he only had time to write “church music”. After being composing mostly cantatas, he had a desire for new instrumental music and in March 1729, he took over the directorship of the Collegium Musicum. This was a kind of private society common in German cities, established by university students. They played an important role in the public musical life, and were led by the most prominent musicians in a city. During this time, the Collegium Musicum made performances in Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse. Coffehouses where common places for social meetings. This was a perfect venue for the last musical material in Italian style. These performances meant a boost in Zimmermann’s bussines (and of course, a new source of income for Bach!).
Zimmermann’s CoffeehouseHowever, I think that for Bach the artistic freedom he enjoyed was much more important than the money. He was able to release his creativity in instrumental music without restrains. Because of that I think that these works had an important place in Bach’s heart, he really loved them. Below I list the violin concertos. Each concerto has his own page, with a personal review and an audio file for download. These reviews are only what I think about each work, and if you have a different opinion, that’s ok. I feature audio files in Ogg Vorbis format for download of each concerto. To know more about these files click here.
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