Concerto for four harpsichords in a, BWV 1065

In the late 18th and 19th centuries the concerto came to be a form of musical drama, pitting a single soloist against the orchestra in a battle for control of the tonal unfolding. Baroque ensemble concertos, which set a group of soloists apart from the larger ensemble (or ripieno), were essentially a thing of the past by the time Mozart died. But for Bach, composing concertos between roughly 1720 and 1740, all options were still on the table. BWV 1065, for four harpsichords and string orchestra, represents his largest undertaking in the genre. It also shows his facility with Italian instrumental concerto style. I must note at the outset that this A-minor concerto is an arrangement of four-violin concerto written in 1712 by Antonio Vivaldi. The three-movement form, clear tonal structure, effective balance between solo and tutti groups, and memorable themes and are all Vivaldi’s. Bach’s task—much like a co-author or translator—was to adapt idiomatic string writing to the keyboard and infuse it with what mattered most to him: polyphony and motivic elaboration. The opening Allegro starts in the solo group (Vivaldi’s novel idea), then alternates between full ensemble and one or two harpsichordists. At no point do all four keyboards play together without the strings; not, that is, until the curious slow movement. That Largo opens with rhetorical flourishes before reveling in an extended harpsichord improvisation à 4. In the finale the solo episodes are brief, to say the least. Instead Bach sustains a full texture that, despite substantial doubling of lines, could rival even the largest string band of the day.

(c) Jason Stell