The concerto for two harpsichords in C minor,
BWV 1060, is a
concerto for two
harpsichords and
string orchestra by
Johann Sebastian Bach. It is likely to have originated in the second half of the 1730s as an arrangement of an earlier concerto, also in
C minor, for
oboe and
violin. That conjectural original version of the concerto, which may have been composed in
Bach's Köthen years (1717–1723), is lost, but has been reconstructed in several versions known as BWV 1060R.
While the extant 18th-century manuscripts present the concerto in a form for two
harpsichords and
strings, the assumption that it originated as concerto for violin and oboe has become widely accepted since the late 19th century.[2][3][4] The precise date for this earlier concerto is unknown, but it is believed to have been in existence from the early 1720s.[5] The version for two harpsichords likely originated in or around 1736.[6] A broader estimate for the time of origin of the version for two harpsichords is 1735–1740.[7]
Structure
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Allegro
The concerto is scored for two harpsichords (cembalo concertato I and II), two violin parts (violin I and II),
viola and
basso continuo.[4] The difference in texture and figuration of both solo instruments is clearest in the outer
Allegro movements.[1][3] In these movements, the melody lines of the cembalo II part are generally more lyrical and less agile than those of the cembalo I part.[1][3] The
Adagio middle movement, where the melody lines of both solo instruments imitate one another without distinction in texture and figuration, has been likened to the middle movement of
Bach's double violin concerto, BWV 1043.[1][7][8]
The theme with which the first Allegro movement opens is transformed in various ways, returning in its original form only at the end of the movement.[7][8]
The Adagio middle movement has a
cantabile melody which is treated imitatively by both solo instruments, accompanied by the string orchestra.[7][8] 18th-century manuscripts contain two versions for the accompaniment: in one version the
string instruments play with
bows (arco), in the other pizzicato.[7][9]
Third movement: Allegro
The ritornello of the last movement has an up-tempo bourrée-like theme, on which also the episodes for the soloists are almost entirely based.[7][8]
In the 1874 preface to the
Bach Gesellschaft edition of the concerto for two harpsichords,
Wilhelm Rust had suggested that the original version of the concerto would have been for two violins.[1][15][16] In 1886
Woldemar Voigt wrote that the original instrument for the part of the second harpsichord was more likely an oboe, and that the original of the concerto could almost certainly be identified with a lost concerto for oboe and violin mentioned in a 1764
Breitkopf catalogue.[1][15][17][7]
Reconstructed versions
Concerto for two violins, BWV 1060R, performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra with David Perry and Roxana Pavel Goldstein (violins)
Max Schneider's reconstruction as a concerto for two violins in
D minor was performed in 1920 at the
Leipzig Bach Festival.[15] According to
Max Seiffert it makes more sense to keep the same
key as the keyboard version, that is
C minor, when reconstructing the concerto for violin and oboe soloists.[15]
In his preface to the 1990 second edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV),
Wolfgang Schmieder proposed to add a capital "R" to a BWV number to indicate a reconstructed version of a composition that is only extant in a later version, hence a reconstruction of a conjectured earlier version of the BWV 1060 concerto can be indicated as BWV 1060R.[2][18] Schmieder used the 1060R catalogue number for a reconstruction in C minor, for oboe and violin soloists, in the 1990 version of the BWV.[19]
Published reconstructions:
Seiffert, Max, ed. (1920). Konzert C moll für Violine und Oboe oder für zwei Violinen mit Klavierbegleitung von J. S. Bach.
C. F. Peters.
OCLC760029773.
Schneider, Max[in German], ed. (1924). Joh. Seb. Bach: Konzert in D moll für Violine, Oboe oder für zwei Violinen und Streichorchester aus der Fassung für zwei Klaviere und Streichorchester C moll zurückübertragen.
Breitkopf & Härtel.
OCLC22853563.
Fischer, Wilfried, ed. (1970). "Konzert für Oboe und Violine c-moll, Rekonstrunktion nach dem Konzert für 2 Cembali BWV 1060". Lost Solo Concertos in Reconstructions.
Johann Sebastian Bach: New Edition of the Complete Works. Vol. Series VII: Orchestral Works, Vol. 7.
Bärenreiter.
ISMN 9790006462094.
Recordings
On CD recordings, BWV 1060R is often combined with Bach's violin concertos BWV 1041–1043.[20]
The slow movement of Karl Richter's recording, with Hedwig Bilgram and the Münchener Bach-Orchester, also features in the soundtrack of
Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975).[26]