Anyone have Bachwerkeverzeichnis handy?

Can anyone check the number of movements in these J. S. Bach's Harpsichord Concertos: D minor (BWV 1052), D major (BWV 1054), F minor (BWV 1056)? I assume they all have three movements.

Thanks,

I don't have one, but three they do. I've heard them a number of times (the d minor more than the others, true..) -Eric Schissel

Eric,

Thanks very much. One more little question for Bach experts: is it not true that the 3rd movement of the D major Harpsichord Concerto (BWV 1054) is nearly identical to the 3rd movement of the E major Violin Concerto (BWV 1042)?

Very true. In fact: All three movements are (arranged from) the corresponding movements of the violin concerto - whether recently or in Bach's time, I do not know, but I think the latter.) I have heard conjectures that many if not all of the harpsichord concerti are alternative versions of concerti for other instruments now lost, and there have been recordings of reconstructions of what some of these 'originals' might have sounded like. Which is probably more than you wanted to know ...

Best regards Eric Schissel

One of these reconstructions was that of BWV 1060, the concerto in C-minor for two harpsichords and orch. According to Nathan Broder (in: _The Collector's Bach_, New York: Keystone Books, 1958, p.176), the 'original' of this work was a concerto for violin and oboe. Two recordings of 'restorations' listed by Broder transpose the work into D-minor, but the violin/oboe version recorded by Casals and Tabuteau in Prades, 1950, is stated to be in C-minor, like the harpsichord version. (I must refresh my memory with comparisons between the two versions of this work...)

In the 1730's Bach arranged many of his earlier concerti for violin and possibly other instruments for harpsichord, for him and his sons to play with the Leipzig Collegium Musicum. From examples such as BWV 1042 - BWV 1054, we know the new versions are usually quite close to the originals, with just a bass line added for the keyboard player's left hand and some embellishment. Typically the harpsichord versions were transposed down a whole-step, allegedly so the keyboard could accomodate the original violin part better (but also possibly because of tuning differences between Coethen and Leipzig).

Tom Wood