Concerto in D minor

BWV 596 performed by Leo van Doeselaar
St. Catherine's Church, Hamburg

1. Allegro - Grave - Fugue
2. Largo e spiccato
3. Allegro

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Incomparable things

It is immediately clear that this is not the usual Bach

There is an incredibly long prelude at the opening of this piece on a single obsessively repeated note. It is immediately clear that this is not the usual Bach. This Concerto in D minor is an organ version of a concerto for two violins and orchestra from Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) L’Estro Armonico, a collection that was published in 1711 by the Amsterdam music publisher Estienne Roger. Vivaldi’s music was popular throughout Europe, and Germany was no exception. During his years at the court in Weimar, Bach made a series of arrangements of Italian concerto music for organ and harpsichord, including six concertos by Vivaldi.

Although the precise function of these arrangements is unclear, they are linked to a penchant for Italian music in Weimar. On 8 July 1713, Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar returned home after studying at Utrecht University for two years. The prince was a talented violinist and composer himself, and probably took back a large pile of brand-new music from the Low Countries. One month earlier, one of Bach’s pupils wrote that he wanted to stay in Weimar, as on the prince’s return he “would be able to hear lots of fine Italian and French music” (“kunte also noch manche schöne Italienische und Frantzösische music hören”). Moreover, Bach himself would undoubtedly be playing “incomparable things” (“unvergleichliche Sachen”) on the renovated organ in the castle chapel. This concerto provides both opportunities at once. On a manuscript in Bach’s own hand, the composer noted down the instructions for the registration of the piece himself. From the tense opening, via the bitter-sweet melodious middle movement, to the exciting final movement, the organist and organ could freshen up Weimar with an incomparable Italian breeze.

BWV: 596
Title: Concerto in D minor
Instrument: organ
Genre: organ works
Year: 1714-17
City: Weimar
Special notes: An arrangement of Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor from L'Estro Armonico, opus III no. 11. Up to 1911, it was thought to be a concerto by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

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Organist Leo van Doeselaar

“This piece is unusual in the fact that Bach notated the registration instructions himself.”

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Credits

Release date

21 August 2015
Recording date

21 October 2014
Location

St. Catherine's Church, Hamburg
Organist

Leo van Doeselaar
Organ

Various builders between the 15th and 19th century. Restoration: Flentrop 2013
Producer

Frank van der Weij
Film director

Jan Van den Bossche
Director of photography

Sal Kroonenberg
Camera assistants

Andreas Grotevent, Lucas Lütz
Music production, editing and mix

Holger Schlegel
Film editor

Jasper Verkaart
Interview

Onno van Ameijde
Acknowledgements

Vadim Dukart, Andreas Fischer

Discover

Toccata and fugue in D minor

organ works, BWV 565

Concerto in G major

organ works, BWV 592