J.S. BachHarpsichord TranscriptionsHarpsichord Transcriptions

Why Concerto transcriptions?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 WeimarBach in WeimarOrganistOrganist

1708-1717

Access to ConcertosAccess to ConcertosJohann Ernst: Prince of Weimar

Concerto XVI, Arrangement of Prince Johann Ernst’s Concerto Op.1 No.4

The transcriptionsThe transcriptionsEmbellishment

I diomatic

VerbatimElaborate

violin

harpsichord

SummarySummary