Like Handel, Bach often re-used and arranged old compositions, with many older concertos resurfacing as harpsichord concertos when he took over the Leipzig Collegium Musicum in 1729.
Composition History
The Concerto in C minor for oboe and violin is a reconstruction based on a later concerto for two harpsichords, as no original source for the oboe and violin version exists.
Composition History
Many of Bach's orchestral and chamber works, including the Brandenburg Concertos and several violin concertos, likely date from his six years at Cöthen.
Composer Biography
Bach's appointment as Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold of Cöthen in 1717 led to his imprisonment by Duke Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar for requesting his release too forcefully.
Compositional Technique
All of Bach's surviving violin concertos utilize the three-movement form and ritornello structure characteristic of Antonio Vivaldi's Venetian concerto style, which Bach assimilated by transcribing Vivaldi's concertos.
Instruments
The two solo instruments in the C minor concerto for two harpsichords (BWV1060) have different melodic ranges, with one compass fitting that of the oboe exactly, suggesting it was originally for oboe and violin.
Historical Context
Prince Leopold, Bach's employer at Anhalt-Cöthen, was a talented musician who played the violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord, and maintained an orchestra of seventeen players.
