J. S. Bach Piano Concerto F minor BWV 1056 - 1st movement – 2 Pianos

Stephan Müller – Yamaha GC 1 Silentflügel
Christian Klinkenberg – Yamaha B2 Silentpiano

Even today, the piano concerto ist one oft the most popular genres in the concert hall. From musicology’s point of view, there is no doubt that Johann Sebastian Bach particularly forced its development. As early as 1721, in the 5th Brandenburg Concerto, he gives the harpsichord an outstanding solistic significance. In this way he detached it from its pure function as basso continuo.
The first real solo concertos were then composed in Leipzig between 1729 and 1740, when Bach took over the Collegium Musicum founded by Telemann and composed a large number of piano concertos for the concerts in the "Zimmermannisches Caffee Hauß" (Oertelsches Haus at Katharinenstraße 14).
Bach preferred the harpsichord until the end of his life, although he came into contact with Gottfried Silbermann's novel fortepianos several times in the 1740s. Nowadays, however, it is quite common to perform the concertos also with the modern concert grand piano.
The F minor concerto BWV 1056, unlike the equally popular D minor concerto BWV 1052, has a particularly concentrated form. In Bach's further developments of the Vivaldian concerto form, the orchestra and solo instrument contribute quite equally to the development of the movement.

In order to emphasize the close interplay of instrumentation, harmony and thematic structure of this concerto movement in the interpretation on two pianos, we arranged the orchestral part with slight modifications for the second piano and expanded it with minor details in harmony and movement structure.

With his Collegium Musicum, which was conducted at the highest level, Bach played a decisive role in the emergence of a bourgeois musical life in Germany. With the death of the cafeteria owner Gottfried Zimmermann in 1741, the concerts in the Oertelsche Haus came to an end. The society of the "Great Concert", newly founded in 1743 by 16 merchants, can be seen as the origin of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From 1781 onwards, its concerts were no longer held in town houses and taverns but in the attic of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, which had been converted into a concert hall.
Advance notice:
Thank you for the interest in our video series!
"What about Jazz, Mr. Bach?" - arrangement of the final movement from the Partita No. 2 in C minor BWV 826 is in preparation for our next video. It is a special combination of tradition and progress, of fascination for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach combined with the enthusiasm for the upscale popular music of the 20th century.



Quellenangaben zum Bildmaterial:

Bild 1: Bach-Porträt von Elias Gottlob Haußmann aus dem Jahr 1748: Digitale Sammlungen des Bach-Archiv Leipzig
Bild 2: Stadtplanausschnitt von Joachim Ernst Scheffler, Oertelsches Haus / Katharinenstraße 14): Digitale Sammlungen des Bach-Archiv Leipzig
Bild 3: Pleyel-Cembalo: „4784, Cembalo, Pleyel; Fotograf: Jürgen Liepe, 1979; Musikinstrumenten-Museum im Staatlichen Institut für Musikforschung SPK“ Bild 4 und 5: Partiturseiten 1 und 5: D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 234 Objekteigner: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz URL: https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/B... Concerto V f-Moll, BWV 1056 - 1. [Allegro], S. 63, T. 1-28 und S. 67, T. 110-116 Bild 6: Gottlob Theuerkauf: Blick in den Konzertsaal des Alten Gewandhauses um 1895 - Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig, Inventarnummer 1781