Duong, Vuong N.

Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D Major, BWV 1050

Johann Sebastian Bach is truly a gift for humanity for his contributions in the
development of music. He had made a total of 1120 BWV. Mass in B minor, Well-
Tempered Clavier, St. Matthew Passion, Goldberg Variations and Brandenburg
Concertos are among of his greatest compositions. According to Sir Peter Porticos,
“there is nothing new under the sun, for the reason that, Bach had developed Music
onto its pinnacle already”. I did a research on the 6 Brandenburg Concertos and
Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D Major is the most remarkable for me.

The original name of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto Grosso was “6 Concerto with
several instruments” and later on in 19th century, Bach’s historian, Philippe Spitta,
coined the term “Brandenburg Concerto”. He made this composition when he was in
Kothen (a city in Germany) and it was dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg
named Christian Ludwig. Christian Ludwig was a member of the “House of
Hohenzollern” (German dynasty of former princes, electors, kings and emperors). The
reason for Bach’s eagerness to please Margrave Christian Ludwig was when Bach met
Christian Ludwig in 1719, Christian Ludwig was quite impressed for the harpsichord
performance and the musicality of Johann Sebastian Bach and no longer after that,
Bach started his 6 Brandenburg Concertos. His intention was to apply as a music
director in Brandenburg because Brandenburg did not have any adept musician at that
time. I was a little bit upset when I found out that Margrave Christian Ludwig had never
heard any of these 6 Brandenburg Concertos. Some historians said that, Christian
Ludwig did not have any funds for musicians during that time.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are considered as a masterpiece

throughout the history of music and are also categorized as the best composition during
the baroque era. The Brandenburg Concertos is a type of Concerto Grosso, a baroque
musical composition for a group of soloists (Soli, Conertino, or principale), and for the
full orchestra or accompaniment (tutti, concerto grosso, or ripieno) which entails the
tonal contrast between the thick sound of the tutti against the Concertino. In the
concertino passages the part is Obbligato rather than Ad Libitum.

The distinct feature of this Brandenburg Concerto is the departure of the harpsichord
from the ripieno going to concertino part. Having a harpsichord as a soloist was quite
bizarre during the baroque era because you could hear violins as the soloists in every
composition. The second distinct feature the Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 In D major is,
it has only 1 violin part in the ripieno group rather than the norm which is 2 parts. Lastly,
the combination of two entities which are the Italian violin and French traverso as a
Concertino in this Brandenburg Concerto. Moreover, historians had considered this
piece as the first keyboard concerto ever written and the opening allegro is the longest
among all movements of the six Brandenburgs. (Gutman, 2008) Philipp Spitta
considered the part to have demanded finger dexterity that no one else possessed at
the time. The Fifth is the most historically important of the Brandenburgs, as it is the
earliest known instance in which the harpsichord is elevated out of the role of continuo
accompaniment to solo status. (Wikipedia, 2019) The fifth Brandenburg Concerto
seems intended to be performed with one instrument per part, as to not overpower the
harpsichord with its relatively restrained volume”.

This work had an earlier version which is called BWV 1050a and the final version is
BWV 1050 or also known as the Brandenburg Concerto no.5 in D Major. The
Concertino consists of flute, violin, and harpsichord, while the ripieno consists of violin,
viola and violine.

The Brandenburg Concerto no.5 in D major is divided into 3 parts: Allegro, Affettuoso,
Allegro, while its older version was Allegro, Adagio, Allegro. The 1st movement starts in
D major in cut time with the contrasting theme of the Soli and Tutti. The 2nd movement
movement is in B minor and the time signature Is in cut time. Bach made the 2nd
movement as a chamber music, whereas, only the Violin, Traverso and Harpischord
were playing, making it feels like a trio sonata (Kramer,1988). Finally, the 3rd movement,
it is in the key D major in cut time. The final movement is a ritornello with a fugue.
Bach used Fortspinnung for this composition. (Wikipedia, 2019) “Fortspinnung” is a
German term conceived in 1915 to refer to a specific process of development of a
musical motif”. In this process, the motif is developed into an entire musical structure by
using sequences, intervallic changes or simple repetitions. I really don’t know if
Fortspinnung is incorporated to Idee Fixe, Thematic transformation or Thematic
metamorphosis, but they do look similar to me.

The Forstpinnung’s 3 main parts:

1. The theme clearly establishes the tonality. Below is the Ritornello (returning)
theme, that's heard throughout the first movement of the work. Ritornello
In the opening section of the Brandenburg Concerto no.5 in D major, the Concertino
established the key signature abruptly by playing “re-re-fa-fa-la-la-re-re”.

2. The actual Fortspinnung moves away from establishing the tonality, and
frequently uses sequence. Sequences
Contrary motion

Figured
There is only 1 violin part which is played by the concertino and the ripieno Bass

I could tell that Bach was fond of using sequences in his compositions especially onto
this one. Sequences are highlighted in the violin part. Moreover, he also used
counterpoints. Cadential 6/4

3. A conclusion, which contains a clear, strong cadence.

 Entrance Answered by the violin

Bach used the Cadential 6/4 which gave this piece a strong and clear cadence feeling.
In this Brandenburg Concerto no.5 In D major, Johann Sebastian used some
compositional devices such as sequences, imitation, intervallic changes, repetition.

CADENZA
The cadenza in this concerto was played by the harpsichord. As shown below,
it’s more scalar and most of the notes are in 32nd note, which could be hard to play. An
earlier version of this work had only 18 measures for the Cadenza while the final version
has 65 measures.
Scalar
2nd Movement Analysis:
The 2nd movement features only the concertinos (Violin, Traverso, and
Harpsichord). The whole point of the 2nd movement is to provide a contrast with the 1st
movement. Moreover, the tempo of the 2nd movement is Affetuoso, contrasting to the 1st
movement which is allegro. They key signature Is in B minor which is the relative minor
of D major. Bach also exemplified the used of stretto and dotted rhythm in this
movement.
Dotted rhythm
Stretto
Ornamentation

3rd Movement Analysis:

The 3rd movement begins D major in fugal. The subject (main theme first
statement) in the solo violin is followed by an answer in the flute at a distance of two
bars. We now have two-part imitation. Moreover, the texture of this movement is
polyphonic and there’s a lot of imitation. The harpsichord also plays in two-part
counterpoint. Moreover, he also used a lot of triplets in this movement.
Triplets Imitation
This Concerto by Bach is a masterpiece for humanity because it does not only bring
mellifluous sound into the ears but it also pierces the emotion and purifies the soul.
Whenever I am listening to Bach’s Concerto Grosso, Bach could navigate me from the
abyss going into this world across the different realms.

BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS DISTINCT FEATURES

No. 1 in F No.2 in F No.3 in G No.4 in G No.5 in D No. 6 in B-

Major Major Major Major Major Flat Major

This Written for Written for a Existence of Harpsichord No Violins,

concerto is Clarino multiple "flauti is both a more like a
the only one specialist soloists d'echo” as 2 concertino viola
in the (natural including of the 3 solo and a concerto.
collection trumpet) 3 violins instruments Ripieno
with four 3 violas instrument.
movements. 3 cellos

References:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Concerto_No._5#Reception
• https://bach.org/education/bwv-1050/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMWbN3nQg0A
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicapp_historical/chapter/brandenburg-
concertos/
• http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics2/brandenburg.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vx4Sc_SMsQ
• Kramer, J.D.(1988) Listen to the Music. Newyork, NY: Schirmer.
• http://stratfordschoolacademy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/Bach_Brandenburg_set_work_support_guide.pdf