The Brandenburgs: Upper Valley Baroque tours J.S. Bach’s most popular music | Vermont Arts
admin January 21, 2025 0
It’s hard to imagine, but six concertos written in hopes of a job have become Johann Sebastian Bach’s most popular music.
The Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051, are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721, in hopes of a court position — that Bach never received.
Next weekend, Upper Valley Baroque will tour the Six Brandenburg Concertos, professionally performed on period instruments conducted by Artistic Director Filippo Ciabatti: at 7 p.m. Friday at the Lebanon (New Hampshire) Opera House; at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, at Grace Congregational Church in Rutland.
Upper Valley Baroque, a professional ensemble performing on period instruments and a select chorus, was founded in 2021. In addition to his position as founding UVB artistic director, Ciabatti, a native of Florence, Italy, is music director of Opera Company of Middlebury, assistant conductor of Boston Baroque, and director of orchestral and choral studies at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center.
“It’s already a big hit! We’re already seeing very good ticket sales,” Ciabatti says.
“It’s a little bit like everything Bach did,” Ciabatti said. “Every time Bach decided to tackle a genre, he would just bring the genre to a whole new level. There are the Passions, the cantatas, and it’s the same with the Brandenburg Concerti.”
The original French title is “Six concerts avec plusieurs instruments,” or “Six Concertos for Several Instruments.” Unlike the concerti grossi of Handel and the Italians which were all strings, Bach mixed and matched solo strings, woodwinds and harpsichord throughout.
The Harvard Bach scholar Christoph Wolff wrote that Bach used the “widest imaginable spectrum of orchestral instruments. The modest title does not begin to suggest the degree of innovation exhibited in the daring combinations … Every one of the six concertos set a precedent in its scoring, and every one was to remain without parallel.”
The Brandenburgs were largely forgotten after Bach’s death in 1750, save for a brief spurt of interest after an 1849 publication. It is questionable whether Bach’s own musicians were actually able to perform this music.
“Sometimes, I have the feeling that Bach had such a clear idea of what he wanted from the music that he wrote, that he knew so intimately what could work – in spite of the technical abilities of the instruments of the time,” Ciabatti said.
“I really wonder if some of these pieces were playable at the time of Bach in the way that we can play them now — either on Baroque instruments or modern instruments.”
Today’s popularity began with the advent of recording and, in particular, the first recording of the complete set made in 1936 by Adolf Busch and his Busch Chamber Players. (Those recordings have remained available ever since; today, they can be streamed on Amazon.)
Interestingly, the Busch recordings are in many ways responsible for the existence of Vermont’s Marlboro Music Festival. It marked the first convergence of two renowned European trios, the Busch-Serkin Trio — violinist Adolf Busch, cellist Hermann Busch and pianist Rudolf Serkin — and the Moyse Trio — flutist Marcel Moyse, violinist Blanche Honegger Moyse and flutist and pianist Louis Moyse — all of whom played in the recordings. Their next convergence was in 1950 on the Marlboro College campus — and Marlboro Music was born.
Public interest has only increased with the advent “historically informed” performance and period instruments. Today, performances can be heard on modern or period instruments, or mixes of both — Bach always works beautifully.
“People are starting to realize that period instruments are just an interestingly different approach, as you can hear some different sonorities,” Ciabatti said. “But the music is the same — so the approach to the music remains the same.”
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Bach was always interested in the concerto form, which come from the Italian tradition — Vivaldi, Corelli and Gemeniani, among others.
“And we know that because he transcribed many of them for organ,” Ciabatti said.
“So when he was asked by the Margrave of Brandenburg to write these concertos, again he elevated the form to a whole new level. The core of what was the structure of the concerto remained, the idea of the ritornello (alternating tutti and solo sections) comes back like Vivaldi — but he just brings it to a whole new level.”
First, the concertos are all very different from one another.
“We have ensemble concertos that are really texturally thought out, and we have the soloistic concertos, which are much more intimate,” Ciabatti said. “In fact, I’m not going to conduct all of them. For some of them, I’m going to work with the musicians (in rehearsal), and let them play (in performance).”
Bach achieves a whole new level of virtuosity in the solo writing.
“There’s a piccolo trumpet part (in No. 2) that’s extremely challenging, especially on the Baroque trumpet. The horn parts (in No. 1) are extremely interesting and challenging.
“The virtuosity of the instrument in the harpsichord concerto (No. 5 with flute and violin) is exploited to a whole new level of creativity that he had in the structure, and the way he developed the music. It’s unparallelled.
“I think that sort of variety, the level of interest of the music, and the many different instruments he uses so brilliantly, and in such a virtuosic manner, it’s what makes the concertos still so popular today.
Details, details
Each of the concertos has individual needs, characteristic and challenges. No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046, calls for, in addition to horns, oboes, bassoon and strings, a solo “violino piccolo,” an instrument similar to today’s children’s quarter-size violin but tuned higher.
“It’s a peculiar instrument for sure,” Ciabatti said. “The concertmistress will play the part on a Baroque violin capable of the part.”
The Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047, calls for solo trumpet, recorder, oboe and violin, plus strings and continuo.
“The trumpet part is basically a violin part — that’s why it’s ridiculously difficult for trumpet,” Ciabatti said. “We can imagine at the time he had a more cantabile approach to the instrument than we have in the more brassy way we use the modern trumpet now.
“But, boy, he still challenges trumpeters today,” he said. “For many years, people thought it was unplayable.”
The Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048, is scored for three violins, three violas, three cellos and harpsichord.
Unusually, the second movement, Adagio, between two fast movements, consists of a single measure with the two chords that make up a “Phrygian half cadence.” Although there is no direct evidence to support it, it is likely that these chords were meant to surround or follow a cadenza improvised by the harpsichord or solo violin.
So, what will Ciabatti do?
“We’ll see. We’ll keep the surprise!” he said.
No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049, features a solo violin, two recorders, strings and continuo.
“It’s a violin concerto,” Ciabatti said. “There are 32nd-note passages that are impossible to play at tempo.
“I wonder if Bach just wanted that for effect,” he said. “Bach had a real talent for writing for violin. Technically speaking, he knew what he was doing.”
Perhaps most popular is No. 5 for solo flute, violin and harpsichord, plus strings. Unlike the other five, here the harpsichord is a solo instrument with a virtuosic and beautiful cadenza toward the end of the first movement. Today, pianists are taking up the part, as they did in the 19th century and in the Busch recording. Of course, Upper Valley Baroque will stick to harpsichord.
Certainly, most unusual is the final, No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051, as it has no violins. Instead, it is scored for lower strings: two viola da braccio (early viola), two viola da gamba (predecessor of the cello, played between the legs), cello, violone (bass-like string instrument) and harpsichord.
“This is another stroke of genius of Bach that achieves a unique color,” Ciabatti said.
Upper Valley Baroque will employ Baroque violas, authentic violas da gamba, Baroque cello and Baroque bass for violone.
Ciabatti finds the lyrical slow movement, Adagio ma non tanto, to be exquisitely beautiful.
“Oh, my God! That alone is worth the price of the ticket.”
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