Description
The first set of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, his opus 3, was published in 1711 in Amsterdam under the title of L'estro armonico (Harmonic Innovation). The latest Italian concertos had a significant effect on J.S. Bach at a time when he was employed as Court Organist and Chamber Musician at Weimar from 1708 to 1717. This was the catalyst for Bach's own arrangements of Italian concertos by Vivaldi, Albinoni and Marcello, resulting in 5 for organ and 16 for harpsichord, including the two concertos published here that were first arranged by Bach for organ. J.S. Bach's practice of making arrangements of pre-existing music, both his own compositions and those of his contemporaries, is well known. The practice was similar to that of a master-craftsman who never wastes any of his materials, but re-works them for different musical and social contexts, often with renewed imagination and a desire to exploit the maximum potential inherent in any piece of musical structure. Hence these present arrangements extend a practice that was normal in the early eighteenth century.