J.S Bach, who born in 1686 and died in 1750, was the first one who deals with contrapuntal counterpoint. Today, I’m going to talk about the 1st movement & second movement of Brandenburg Concerto No.2. Brandenburg Concertos were written by Bach, while he worked at Cothen.
Baroque Concerto is a small group of soloists pitted against a larger group of players called tutti, which consists mainly the string instruments, with a harpsichord as a basso continuo. 1st movement of this concerto is in ritornello form whereas the 2nd movement is a modified fugue. I will be going to explain why the 2nd movement is not a normal fugue, but a modified fugue later when I start presenting the 2nd movement.
1st Movement
1st movement, which is in Allegro, opens with ritornello. It’s in simple duple meter, and F major key since there are no sharpened notes at 7th. If it’s a minor key, then it must have C#, the 7th note of D relative minor. Bar 1 ~ 8 is ritornello (ritornello 1), presenting motive A and B that …show more content…
At bar 80, there’s a ritornello in G minor, which is similar to the subject at bar 36. The elements from Ritornello 1 appear in a contrapuntal way. It continues from the solo, which the flute, violin, oboe and trumpet with a short statement for each. Most of them related to the Fortspinnung and Epilogue of the ritornello. Bar 80 is the part of the and long modulatory tutti section with various exchanges between instruments. Until bar 83, it’s Ritornello 5.
At the 4th beat of bar 83, it’s a solo section, which is similar to the 4th beat of bar 39, but presenting more sophistication. It used the same terminology with bar 39, but played in different instruments. Oboe is playing trumpet part of bar 39, which is the motive A, and flute is playing the violin part which played motive B at bar 39. The trumpet plays the flute part of bar 40, which is the inversion of motive
Baroque Concerto is a small group of soloists pitted against a larger group of players called tutti, which consists mainly the string instruments, with a harpsichord as a basso continuo. 1st movement of this concerto is in ritornello form whereas the 2nd movement is a modified fugue. I will be going to explain why the 2nd movement is not a normal fugue, but a modified fugue later when I start presenting the 2nd movement.
1st Movement
1st movement, which is in Allegro, opens with ritornello. It’s in simple duple meter, and F major key since there are no sharpened notes at 7th. If it’s a minor key, then it must have C#, the 7th note of D relative minor. Bar 1 ~ 8 is ritornello (ritornello 1), presenting motive A and B that …show more content…
At bar 80, there’s a ritornello in G minor, which is similar to the subject at bar 36. The elements from Ritornello 1 appear in a contrapuntal way. It continues from the solo, which the flute, violin, oboe and trumpet with a short statement for each. Most of them related to the Fortspinnung and Epilogue of the ritornello. Bar 80 is the part of the and long modulatory tutti section with various exchanges between instruments. Until bar 83, it’s Ritornello 5.
At the 4th beat of bar 83, it’s a solo section, which is similar to the 4th beat of bar 39, but presenting more sophistication. It used the same terminology with bar 39, but played in different instruments. Oboe is playing trumpet part of bar 39, which is the motive A, and flute is playing the violin part which played motive B at bar 39. The trumpet plays the flute part of bar 40, which is the inversion of motive