In a few cases, Bach would also use a concerto movement in a sinfonia or aria in a cantata, giving us what is presumably an intermediate version, as well. A good number of those are known only through their later transcriptions into harpsichord concertos. But Bach undoubtedly wrote more concertos during that earlier time that are now lost. Of these earlier concertos, only three have survived, two concertos for violin and one for two violins, all of which have also come down to us in harpsichord transcriptions. All of Bach's solo and multiple harpsichord concertos, except for one double concerto in C major, are thought to be transcriptions of earlier works that were originally written for violin, oboe or other instruments. (Only in the fifth Brandenburg Concerto had he experimented with the harpsichord as a soloist.) But the works themselves were not original compositions. In doing so, he essentially invented the idea of the solo keyboard concerto, the harpsichord having traditionally been an accompanist when playing with other instruments. Bach took over direction of the Collegium in 1729 and provided music for the ensemble and directed its concerts for over a decade.įor his Collegium programs, which were the closest he ever came to giving public concerts, Bach created, among other works, nearly all of his harpsichord concertos. From 1720 until his death in 1741, he hosted concerts of the Collegium Musicum, an ensemble of professional and university musicians, in his coffeehouse on Friday evenings during the winter and in his coffee garden on Wednesday afternoons during the summer.

Leipzig had several, but the proprietor of Zimmermann's Coffeehouse on the Catherinenstraße deserves our special gratitude for having had good taste not only in coffee but also in music. These notes include all of Bach's concertos that have come down to us, except for concertos for a keyboard instrument without accompaniment and surviving fragments of concertos.īy Bach's time, coffee was so well established as a popular vice that it had spawned coffeehouses all over Europe.

Bach harpsichord