C H O O S E K E S W I C K . O RG
the 1950s and immediately vaulted onto
the classical hit parade: Vivaldi’s The Four
Seasons and the Brandenburg Concertos. And interestingly, there are strong
links between these two sets of concertos — aside from the fact that they are
both enormously appealing and tuneful
works —for the young Bach avidly studied Vivaldi’s latest concertos and adopted
their forms and many of their techniques
for his own orchestral music.
Unlike The Four Seasons, however, the
Brandenburgs were not originally written
as a set. Some of them — the First Concerto seems the most likely — may have
been created in the early 1710s when the
young composer was serving at the court
of Weimar. Most of them, though, were
likely written for the court of Cöthen,
where Bach served as kapellmeister from
1717 to 1722. These were extraordinarily
happy and productive years, for his
employer Prince Leopold was a an accomplished musician who sang and played the
violin, viola da gamba, and bass viol; as
Bach said, he “both loved and understood
music.” Prince Leopold maintained an orchestra of 17 players of the highest calibre
to whom he added guest artists whenever
the music demanded.
In 1719, Bach was sent to the Margrave’s court in Berlin to purchase a fine
new har