BACH, Johann Sebastian 1685-1750

Troisième Concerto pour trois Violons, trois Altos, et trois Violoncelles avec Basse. [BWV 1048, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major]

Leipzig & Berlin: Edition Peters, No. 263.3 [PN 3406], ca. 1870.

Folio. Contemporary half black cloth with marbled boards, dark red leather title label gilt to upper. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), p. 3 (editor S. W. Dehn's note indicating that the original manuscript was the source for the edition), 4-26 pp. Music engraved.

With bookplate of William Kimmel (1908-1982), music professor at Hunter College and City University Graduate Center, to front pastedown, and "[?]R Lippe 1910" to upper right corner of title. Rectangular handstamp of Munich musicseller Carl Lischer to blank lower margin of title.

Binding worn; endpapers browned, with free front endpaper detached. Slightly browned; title browned, brittle, and mostly detached, with edge chips and tears, those to inner portion somewhat crudely repaired with old tape; final leaf partially detached, with crude paper repairs.

First Edition, later issue. Schmieder 2, p. 764. Leipzig catalogue 216 (without Berlin imprint). Not in Hoboken.

"In early 1721 Bach must have been preparing the Brandenburg Concertos, whose autograph full score was dedicated on March 24, 1721 to the Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, brother of the first Prussian king, before whom Bach had played in Berlin while acquiring the new Cöthen harpsichord in February 1719. What he played is not known; but he was invited to send in some compositions. The margrave’s reaction to the receipt of the six works assembled for him by Bach is also not known. ...

In the score bearing the dedication to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, the so-called Brandenburg Concertos are dated March 24, 1721. This is merely a terminus ante quem, for the concertos themselves must have been written over a considerable period before being assembled in 1721 as a collection of ‘Concerts avec plusieurs instruments’ (not as a single work in several parts). ...

The special significance of the Brandenburg Concertos resides in the fact that, like Vivaldi’s, they abandon the standard type of concerto grosso and use a variety of solo combinations. The originality of Bach’s ideas extends far beyond Vivaldi’s, as do the density of the compositional texture and the level of professional virtuosity. The devising of concise head-motifs, particularly in the first movements, shows a strong Italian influence. All of Bach’s instrumentations are unprecedented. They feature all kinds of combinations, from homogeneous string sound (nos.3 and 6) to the heterogeneous mixing of brass, woodwind, string, and keyboard instruments." Christoph Wolff in Grove Music Online.

Item #40392

Price: $300.00  other currencies