Tempo

J. S. Bach - Violin Concerto in A minor (I. Allegro)
Sheet music for violin
Alt. Title: | Violin Concerto No. 1 |
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Info: | The Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041, has three movements and this one is the first part. This opening movement is in ritornello form. This means that there is a main section that comes back in fragments in both the solo violin and orchestral parts. This 'ritornello' can be found in the first movement up until bar 24. The motifs of the theme appear in changing combinations and are separated and intensified throughout the movement. The earliest surviving manuscript of Bach’s A minor Violin Concerto dates from around 1730 after Bach assumed directorship of Leipzig’s collegium musicum. After producing over 200 sacred cantatas over 6 years as the new cantor of Leipzig’s Lutheran churches, Bach felt he had enough church music that he could now recycle in future years. Adding on his post with the collegium provided him with an opportunity to present secular, instrumental music to the public in a series of weekly concerts given in Zimmermann’s coffee shop during the winter and at an outdoor coffee garden in the summer. Bach himself likely performed the solo part at these intimate gatherings, which would have been attended by about 150 coffee-drinkers at most. Many scholars suspect that the concerto was first composed during Bach’s time as Kapellmeister in Cöthen from 1717-1723. Bach composed many of his most beloved instrumental works during the five and half years he spent there. The 1730 manuscript may thus be a revision of an earlier version; later in his life, he recast the piece yet again as a concerto for harpsichord in G minor. |
Opus number: | BWV 1041 |
Date: | 1717-1730 |
Artist: | Johann Sebastian Bach |
Born: | 21 March 1685 , Eisenach |
Died: | 28 July 1750 , Leipzig |
The artist: | One of the greatest composers of all time. Bach wrote hundreds of pieces for organ, choir, as well as many other instruments. He spent most of his life as a church organist and a choir director. His music combines profound expression with clever musico-mathematical feats, like fugues and cannons in which the same melody is played against itself in various ways. |
Instrument: | Violin |
Key: | A minor |
Range: | G#3 - E6 |
Time signature: | 2/4 |
Tempo: | 100 BPM |
Duration: | 3:25 |
Pages: | 4 |
Difficulty: | Intermediate |
Style: | Classical |