Download Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in f minor BWV 1056 – Johann Sebastian

Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in f minor BWV 1056 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 –
1750)
Allegro Moderato
Largo
Presto
Bach was a genius. Writer Robert Cummings describes Bach in this manner: “Johann
Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso organist than as a composer in his day.
His sacred music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities of his compositional style – which
often included religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in
a profound puzzle of special codes – still amaze musicians today. Many consider him the
greatest composer of all time.” Bach was also a very human individual. He was stubborn,
impatient, penny-pinching and, at times, vindictive. And, having famously fathered 26
children, he must not have focused his energies exclusively on music.
He wrote music under vastly different circumstances than today’s composers. Bach’s
employers (nobility and clergy) required him to compose for specific events such as
ceremonies and weekly church services. As a result he was immensely productive, writing vast numbers of keyboard, choral, orchestral and chamber works both sacred and
secular. As was the custom in his time, he often rewrote earlier pieces or used the music
of other composers, altering instrumentation, key, tempo and mood as circumstances required. Because music was often considered to have served its purpose once the event
for which it was composed had occurred, many of Bach’s works have been irretrievably
lost. The chronology of and circumstances surrounding the composition of Bach’s work
have been and continue to be the subject of a vast amount of scholarly research. The
“BWV” (Bach Werke Verzeichnis) catalog numbers published by Wolfgang Schmieder in
1950 are a visible example of this scholarship.
In the light of the foregoing it is little wonder that the exact circumstances under which
the Keyboard Concerto No. 5 was composed are somewhat uncertain. The concerto is
variously supposed to have originated as a violin concerto or as an oboe concerto transformed by Bach into a keyboard concerto. Some even ascribe its origin to Vivaldi though
this view has been largely discounted. It may have been composed during his service in
the ducal court of C then or, more likely in Leipzig during his association with the Collegiuim Musicum there. The date of its composition is likely to have been during the late
1730’s.
Like most concertos, the work is in three movements. The first is a rhythmic allegro
moderato which contrasts a vigorous repeated motive in the accompaniment with energetic and extended triplets in the solo.
The lovely middle movement’s largo melody in the relative major key of A flat is most
likely to be familiar to listeners as it was used by Bach in a Cantata BWV 156 as his Sinfonia in F although, in the concerto, it appears in a more ornamented form. The delicate
pizzicato accompaniment allows the soloist to make the most of the melody’s expressive
nature. Most will recognize this as the famous Arioso – a melody which has been
adapted for nearly every instrument imaginable.
The presto finale, flows vigorously in triple meter, the eighth note melody giving the impression of continuous motion and serving well to display the soloist’s speed and virtuosity.