Harpsichord TranscriptionsJ.S. Bach

Why Concerto transcriptions?He was attracted to the rational tonal design and ritornello organization of the concerto that enabled the creation of unified, continuous instrumental movements on a hitherto unprecedented scale, avoiding, on the one hand, the tonal monotony and short-breathed sectionalism of, say, the variation set or the passacaglia, and on the other, the tendency, observable at times in the early toccatas and even the early fugues- toward excessive variety and contrast at the cost of any sense of a compelling underlying unity.-Robert L. Marshall, Eighteenth Century Keyboard Music

Bach in WeimarOrganist1708-1717

Access to ConcertosJohann Ernst: Prince of Weimar

Concerto XVI, Arrangement of Prince Johann Ernsts Concerto Op.1 No.4

The transcriptionsEmbellishmentIdiomaticVerbatimElaborateviolinharpsichord

Summary

Bach worked as the court organist under Duke of Weimar between 1708-1717Harpsichord concertos dated from 1708 to 1714