Bach After Vivaldi



  1. Did Bach Know Vivaldi
  2. Bach Organ Concertos After Vivaldi
  3. Bach Vs Vivaldi
  4. Bach After Vivaldi
  5. Bach After Vivaldi Cello Concerto
Bach’s fascination with Vivaldi resulted in him transcribing a total of 10 concertos, and their publication in late 1800s was a major contributing factor to the twentieth century resurgence in Vivaldi's popularity.
Of the 7 Vivaldi concertos that Bach chose to rework for solo harpsichord, RV 230 is arguably the most famous and best loved.
Lathkill Music Publishers are proud to be able to finally make Bach's Concerto in D major BWV 972 available to guitar duos through this fabulous transcription for two guitars by Duo Mirić.
“This beautiful edition, ... a well-executed transcription of the original, ... musically impressive enough to interest professional duos, but the first two movements would be of interest to an amateur duo, and the final movement’s complexity is purely one of speed.” Derek Hasted - CLASSICAL GUITAR (FALL 2019)
Duo Mirić are twin sisters Darka Kooienga (née Mirić) and Tanja Mirić. They have been playing together for over two decades. Each holds a D.M.A. from the University of Minnesota, an M.M. from Southern Methodist University and a B.M. from Mississippi College. Notable concert appearances include the St. Louis Classical Guitar Great Artist Series, the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series, the Fort Worth Guitar Guild, and the Ensemble Showcase at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention.
8 page score with separate parts each 6 pages
Grade 8
£9 book
£7 pdf
LMP142

by George Bozarth
Co-Artistic Director, Musique du Jour Presents

Last weekend I mentioned that, in addition to arranging a four-violin concerto from Antonio Vivaldi’s popular L’estro Armonico, op. 3, for four harpsichords and strings, Bach “reduced” three concertos from this set for unaccompanied harpsichord, and two more for organ. He most likely prepared these “reductions” during the period July 1713–July 1714, while he was serving as organist to the court of the Duke of Weimar and learning the new Italian style stemming from sunny Venice. I’ve placed “reduced” and “reductions” in quotation marks because, while fitting the full tutti onto just a keyboard, Bach went further and added more contrapuntal lines to Vivaldi’s texture. Some of the concertos he transposed into different keys.

  1. Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725): sort by Name → Notebook A. Bach; Vivaldi arrangements: sort by Additional info → after Vivaldi; The Well-Tempered Clavier book I (1722): sort by BG → Vol. 14; The Well-Tempered Clavier book II (1739–1742): sort by NBA → V/6.2; The Well-Tempered Clavier book II (1744): sort by BG → 14: 91.
  2. Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto for solo organ No. 2 in A minor, BWV 593 (BC J86) (after Vivaldi, Op.
Bach After Vivaldi

Did Bach Know Vivaldi

Discover releases, reviews, track listings, recommendations, and more about Bach., Janos Sebestyen. Six Solo Concerti After Vivaldi at Discogs. Complete your Bach., Janos Sebestyen. collection.


Canaletto – The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice

Canaletto-The-Bucintoro-Venice

Canaletto-Veduta-del-Palazzo-Ducale-Venice
Bach After Vivaldi

CONCERTO No. 3 in G major, RV 310 —> CONCERTO in F major, BWV 978

  1. Allegro
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro

A scalar motive, easy to hear when it returns, opens the ritornello. The solo violin offers up echos and sequences. Standing in stark contrast is the minor-key Largo, with lyrical wisps and arabesques in the solo violin supported by bleak orchestral chords (“Winter”?). Active life is rejoined in the Allegro Finale, which is all hustle and bustle, with the bass charging forward, echo effects and engaging syncopations in the upper strings, and the soloist showing off fast-note virtuosity.

Vivaldi: Performed by Elizabeth Wallfisch, violin, with Tafelmusik, by Jeanne Lamond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6b7WH9Le-E

Watch how Bach adds to the left-hand imitations of the right hand’s scalar motive, to increase the movement’s dynamism.

Bach: Performed by the elegant young French harpsichordist and organist Benjamin Alard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv3sUq-GJe0

CONCERTO No. 9 in D major, RV 230 —> CONCERTO in D major, BWV 972

  1. Allegro
  2. Larghetto
  3. Allegro

Bach Organ Concertos After Vivaldi

For this work we’ll listen to two recordings: Fabio Biondi playing the Vivaldi and Richard Egarr performing the Bach. The Allegro is announced with a group of well-spaced, snappy dotted rhythms open to interpretation — is it a slow introduction (Biondi) or an assertive overture (Egarr)? The same interpretative options are available for the central Larghetto, as witness our two recordings — is it soulfully sad, or is it melancholy yet strongly anchored? On the harpsichord Egarr’s Finale is a bold burst of sound, replete with bounding chords and improvised trills; with Biondi’s orchestra, it is a spritely, dance-like dash-to-the-finish, with quick minor-key inflections.

Vivaldi: Performed by violinist Fabio Biondi with Europa Galante
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymn1i-kMn2M

Bach: Performed by the English harpsichordist Richard Egarr, playing on a 1640 Ruckers harpsichord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CACAlhcmKPM

As Egarr notes, “Bach added an interesting part for the left hand in the third movement, and in the first movement he fitted a whole string orchestra onto one harpsichord, while also making the music more appropriate for keyboard.” For a demonstration of how Bach did this, see Richard Egarr’s chat at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYCEqH3RfE&t=os

Bach Vs Vivaldi

CONCERTO No. 12 in E major, RV 265 —> CONCERTO in C major, BWV 976

  1. Allegro
  2. Largo (Vivaldi) —> Largo e spiccato (Bach)
  3. Allegro

The chipper ritornello Allegro, with its bouncing repeated notes, is always welcome on each reappearance. The solo violin appears with a bit of the opening motive in sequence before weaving its own extensions of fancy fiddle-work, specializing in showy cross-string playing. The Largo features contemplative dueting between soloist and first violin, often in stepwise sequences, ending in warm, secure cadences. In The English Concert’s interpretation the ritornello of the Allegro final has a galloping feeling, setting off the soloist’s rapid-fire displays of virtuosity. Yet, all ends quietly.

Bach After Vivaldi

Vivaldi: Performed by violinist Simon Standage with Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bGxZMUoBh8

Bach: Performed by Robert Hill on a harpsichord built by his brother, Keith Hill, with a scanning score that allows you to see, as well as hear, the step dynamics in the tutti sections using the two keyboards, the brilliant passage-work in the solo sections, as well as how a fine harpsichordist ornaments the melodic lines, inserts poignant hesitations (especially in the Largo), and employs a wonderful variety of arpeggiation (or rolling) of full chords to create lush “orchestral sounds.” After hearing Vivaldi’s original Finale, you’ll be amazed at the incredible arrays of left-hand passage-work that Bach adds to drive the movement forward at a manic pace. You’ll need to take some deep breaths after the roiling, then crashing climax! In Bach’s hands (and Hill’s performance) Vivaldi’s quiet closing takes on a certain nobility of accomplishment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL0LLFcJENg

Bach After Vivaldi Cello Concerto

During his years in Weimar, Bach also transcribed two of Vivaldi’s double violin concertos for the solo organ. We shall explore these works next week.