D minor (with strings)
E major (with strings)
D major (with strings)
A major (with strings)
F minor (with strings)
G minor (with strings)
F major (with two flutes and strings)
A minor (with flute, violin and strings)
D major (with flute, violin and strings)
* * *
Little is known about these concertos. It is supposed that the seven
were formed by putting together various separate movements, or were
arrangements or transcriptions for the clavier. “In all the concertos
for clavier, whether for one instrument or many, there are passages for
the solo instrument unaccompanied which anticipate the procedure of
modern concertos, with considerable use of _arpeggios_, and even
occasional _cadenza_ passages. Bach follows the Italian types in the
general scheme and easy style of the quick movements, and they are
rather homophonic in feeling, with the exception of the last movement of
the double concerto in C major, which is a fugue of the most vivacious
description.... Bach clearly enjoyed writing in the concerto form and
found it congenial. It would be even natural to infer that he found
opportunities for performing the works, as in many cases the same
concertos appear in versions both for violin and clavier.”[2]
Parry also says: “When Bach writes slow movements for the clavier, he
makes them serve as phases of contrast to the quick movements, in which
some rather abstract melody is discussed with a certain aloofness of
manner, or treated with elaborate ornamentation, such as was more suited
to the instrument than passages of sustained melody pure and simple. The
alternative presented in the admirable concerto for the clavier in D
minor is to give a _Siciliano_ in place of the central slow movement, a
course which provides a type of melody well adapted to the limited
sustaining power of the harpsichord.... The finest of them [the
concertos] is that in D minor, above mentioned, which from its style
would appear to have been written at Cöthen.”
It is supposed that there was use of the general bass in these
concertos. A second clavier was usually employed; but there is reason to
believe that a portable organ, or lutes, theorbos, and the like were
also used in accompaniment. Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote in his _J. S.
Bach_ (Leipsic, 1905): “The seven concertos for clavier are in effect,
and with one exception only, transcriptions made at Leipsic after 1730
at a time when Bach saw himself obliged to write concertos for the
performances of the Telemann Society, which he began to conduct in 1729,
and for the little family concerts at his own home. These transcriptions
are of unequal worth. Some were made carefully and with art, while
others betray impatience in the accomplishment of an uninteresting task.
Only one of the pianoforte concertos is not derived from a violin
concerto.”