Brandenburg Concerto No.5 - 1. Allegro

By: Johann S. Bach
For: String quartet
page one of Brandenburg Concerto No.5 - 1. Allegro

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Composer
Johann S. Bach
Year of composition
1721
Arranger
Difficulty
Difficult (Grades 7+)
Duration
5 minutes
Genre
Classical music
License details
For anything not permitted by the above licence then you should contact the publisher first to obtain permission.

Johann Sebastian Bach most likely completed his Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050, in 1721. This work is the fifth of six concertos the composer dedicated to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. The offering was likely a sort of application for employment; Bach got no response, but these pieces have become some of his best-known material. Every one of the concertos is distinct, as are the composer's sets of suites and partitas. Hearing the fifth concerto in the context of the rest of the set makes it clear that, apart from Bach's inimitable strength as a contrapuntist, the key to his ability to make music that is both sublime and entertaining lies in the fact that in his hands, everything is elastic. No other composer of the Baroque era could write through the constraints of form as if it was not there at all. Bach saw more options than anyone else, in form and in influence. The way he blended the Italian sound into his own in these concertos ennobled both Italian and German music. The scope of his vision and his relentless invention, making everything he wrote new, frustrates any attempt at comparison.

This fifth concerto is scored for flute, solo violin, obbligato harpsichord, and strings. It is the only one of the six pieces to have any solo material given to the harpsichord, which is part of the continuo throughout the other works, filling out the harmonies. What is quite bizarre and beautiful about the opening movement is the way the solo instruments and string ensemble seem to be muscling in on each other's musical functions. More specifically, the ritornello is almost carried away by the soloists although it is normally the territory of the tutti ensemble. The harpsichord seems to be holding the work together, and there are episodes in the second half of the movement where everything has ground to a halt except for the harpsichord. At the end of the movement, the other soloists actually support the free-flowing harpsichord line. It is a sort of divide-and-conquer movement, with tutti versus soloists, and also soloists against soloists. The harpsichord wins. No one wrote music with this sort of free play of function before Bach.

The following two movements, briefer than the first, form an admirable contrast. The second movement is for soloists only, somber and cooperative. Though it is intimate and free of the first movement's tension, it is the most concerto-like movement in the traditional sense. This is a colossal irony, considering how the tensions of the concerto form were exploded in the first, which is as much a departure from the form as it is an adherent. The final movement is a charming dance, a lively gigue with fugal powers.

This arrangements is for standard string quartet with an optional bass part.

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Holberg Suite - 5. Rigaudon, Holberg Suite - 4. Air, Holberg Suite - 2. Sarabande, Lullaby, Concerto for Two Violins "L'estro armonico" Op.3 No.8 - Movement 3, Concerto for Two Violins "L'estro armonico" Op.3 No.8 - Movement 1, A Midsummer Night's Dream Op.61 - Nocturne, Siegfried Idyll, Brook Green Suite - 3. Dance, Brook Green Suite - 2. Air, St. Paul's Suite - 4. Finale (The Dargason), Brandenburg Concerto No.5 - 3. Allegro, Serenade No.10 "Gran Partita" - 6. Theme and variations, Anvil Chorus, from "Il Trovatore", Serenade No.10 "Gran Partita" - 3. Adagio, Water Music Suite No.2 in D, Un bel di vedremo, from "Madama Butterfly", Sextet: Chi mi frena, from "Lucia di Lammermoor", O soave fanciulla, from "La boheme", Morning Has Broken, Si. Mi chiamano Mimi, from "La boheme", Che gelida manina, from "La boheme", Duet: Sous le dome epais, from "Lakme", Au fond du temple saint, from "The Pearl Fishers", Largo al factotum, from "The Barber of Seville", Habanera from "Carmen", Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix, from "Samson et Dalila", Vissa d'arte, from "Tosca", Song to the Moon, from "Rusalka", Song Without Words No.30 - Spring Song Op.62 No.6, Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op.42 - No.3 Melodie, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Water Music Suite No.1 in F, Sonata in A, KV 331 - 3. Rondo "alla Turca", Sonata in A, KV 331 - 2. Menuetto and Trio, Sonata "Pathetique" Op.13 - 2. Adagio cantabile, Sonata "Pathetique" Op.13 - 1. Grave - Allegro, Sonata in A, KV 331 - 1. Andante grazioso (Theme and variations), Chanson de Matin, Lullay My Liking, In The Bleak Mid-Winter, Anvil Chorus, from "Il Trovatore", Bethena - A Concert Waltz, A Cyclone in Darktown, Trio No.3, Trio No.2, Trio No.1, Once in Royal David's City, O come, O come, Emmanuel, Unto Us A Child Is Born, Christians, Awake!, Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep, In Dulci Jubilo, Advance Australia Fair, Gradual, L'Estate ("Summer") - 3. Presto, L'Estate ("Summer") - 2. Adagio, Presto, L'Estate ("Summer") - 1. Allegro non molto, Espana - 2. Tango, Orchestral Suite No.2 - 7. Badinerie, Orchestral Suite No.2 - 4. Bourree I and II, Orchestral Suite No.2 - 3. Sarabande, A Thousand And One Nights, Roses From The South, Tales From The Vienna Woods, The Cannon Ball Rag, The Washington Post March, The Stars And Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis, The Manhattan Beach March, The Liberty Bell March, King Cotton, The High School Cadets, Hands Across The Sea, The Gladiator March, El Capitan, I Saw Three Ships, Jingle Bells, O Little Town Of Bethlehem (2), We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Joy To The World, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, Silent Night, Away In A Manger, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Good King Wenceslas, The First Noel, Angels From The Realms of Glory, Symphony No.29 - 4. Allegro con spirito, Of The Father's Love Begotten, O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fidelis), Symphony No.29 - 3. Menuetto, Symphony No.25 - 4. Allegro, Who Let The Cows Out? - For Sax Quartet (AATB), L'Autunno ("Autumn") - 3. Allegro, L'Autunno ("Autumn") - 1. Allegro, String Serenade - 2. Waltz, Piano Sonata No.14 "Moonlight" - 2. 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Allegro, 16 Songs for Children, Op.54 No.6 Legend ("When Jesus Christ Was Yet A Child"), The Nutcracker - Overture, Preludes, Book 1 No.8 - The Girl With The Flaxen Hair, Lohengrin - The Bridal Chorus, A Midsummer Night's Dream Op.61 "The Wedding March", Radetzky March, Op.228, Song Without Words No.27 "Funeral March" Op.62 No.3, Jerusalem (And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time), Children's Corner, No.6 The Golliwog's Cake-Walk, Chanson Triste, Op.40 No.2, Minute Waltz, Op.64 No.1, Canon in D, The Blue Danube Waltzes, Wine, Women and Song, Humoresque, Op.101 No.7, Kinderszenen, Op.15 No.11 Furchtenmachen (Frightening), Kinderszenen, Op.15 No.7 Traumerei (Dreaming), Song Without Words No.45 - Scherzo Op.102 No.3, La Damnation de Faust - Rakoczy March, Pictures at an Exhibition - Promenade, Birthday Minuet and The Barber of Seville - Overture

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