The Sonate auf Concertenart: A Postmodern Invention? David ...

Sonate auf Concertenart, p. 17
of each of the Venetian concertos that Bach transcribed for keyboard, but these show
considerable variety in modulating schemes and other details, as well as in the degree to which the
ritornello actually returns as a unit. 49
Unfortunately, not a single composing score survives for any of the works most frequently
cited as Sonaten auf Concertenart: the sonatas in B minor and A major for flute and cembalo,
BWV 1030 and 1032; the G-minor sonata for viola da gamba and keyboard, BWV 1029; and the
organ sonata in G, BWV 530. These survive only in fair-copy autographs (Reinschriften) or late
copies. Equally relevant here are the concertos themselves, which survive only in Reinschriften or
revision copies, sets of parts, and copies. As a result, we do not know the original titles, dates of
composition, or instrumental settings for any of these works. It seems certain, however, that Bach
had written a substantial portion of his surviving output of concertos by the early 1720s--in other
words, before the hardening of genre definitions alluded to above. In addition to the Brandenburg
Concertos, whose fair-copy dedication score dates from 1721, it is likely that by that date Bach
had also written other concertos. Direct evidence for this is scant, but the view is supported by
50
arguments from style and internal evidence; the concerto-like opening movements of a number
of cantatas date from as early as 1713.
For example, Klaus Hofmann has argued convincingly that the Second Brandenburg
Concerto is a quintet--that is, a work for four melody instruments and continuo--expanded by the
51
addition of ripieno string parts. If so, the work was originally similar in instrumentation to
compositions by Vivaldi, Telemann, and others that are found under both titles sonata and
reference to such a form in instrumental music appears to be that of Scheibe, more detailed
accounts being given by Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung das Flöte traversiere
zu spielen (Berlin, 1752), and Joseph Riepel, Anfangsgründe zur musikalischen Setzkunst.
49
For example, in Vivaldi's op. 3, no. 9 (model for BWV 972), neither quick movement
ever restates its opening ritornello.
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That at least one of Bach's violin concertos had been composed and was in circulation
by 1726 is evident from a list of pieces acquired by the Ulm Collegium Musicum during the 1725-
6 season; see Adelheid Krause-Pichler, Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht 1722-1794: Ein Komponist
zwischen Barock und Klassik (Weißenhorn: Konrad, 1991), 223-4. That the "Bach" who wrote
o
the "Conc. a viol: Pr: 3. V.V.A. viol . obl. et B" was Johann Sebastian is implied by the presence
of a "Concerto Großo" by "Bach" of "Lipsia" in the next season's list.
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Klaus Hofmann, "Zur Fassungsgeschichte des 2. Brandenburgische Konzerts," in Bachs
Orchesterwerke: Bericht über das 1. Dortmunder Bach-Symposion 1996, ed. Martin Geck and
Werner Breig (Witten: Klangfarben, 1997), 185-92. Hofmann has edited this version as Johann
Sebastian Bach: Concerto da camera F-dur: Rekonstruktion nach dem Zweiten
Brandenburgischen Konzert BWV 1047 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1998).