Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in d Minor

The Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, is a concerto for harpsichord and Baroque string orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. In three movements, marked Allegro, Adagio and Allegro, it is the first of Bach's harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052-1065. Name Translations: Concert per a clavecí núm. 1 (Bach); Concerto pour clavecin n° 1; Concierto para clavecín en re menor, BWV 1052 Name Aliases: Concert per a clavecí en re menor de Bach;...
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The Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, is a concerto for harpsichord and Baroque string orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. In three movements, marked Allegro, Adagio and Allegro, it is the first of Bach's harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052-1065.

Name Translations: Concert per a clavecí núm. 1 (Bach); Concerto pour clavecin n° 1; Concierto para clavecín en re menor, BWV 1052
Name Aliases: Concert per a clavecí en re menor de Bach; Concert per a clavecí num. 1 (Bach); Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052
Composer: Bach, Johann Sebastian
Opus/Catalogue Number: BWV 1052
I-Catalogue Number: IJB 264
Key: D minor
Movements/Sections: 3 movements:

• Allegro
• Adagio
• Allegro
• Year/Date of Composition: 1734 (BWV 1052a), 1738 (BWV 1052)
  First Publication1836?
  Average Duration: 21 minutes
  Composer Time Period: Baroque
  Piece Style: Baroque
  Instrumentation: harpsichord, strings, continuo
  
  The earliest surviving manuscript of the concerto can be dated to 1734; it was made by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel and contained only the orchestral parts, the cembalo part being added later. This version is known as BWV 1052a. The definitive version BWV 1052 was recorded by Bach himself in the autograph manuscript of all eight harpsichord concertos BWV 1052-1058, made around 1738.
  
  In the second half of the 1720s, Bach had already written versions of all three movements of the concerto for two of his cantatas with obbligato organ as solo instrument: the first two movements for the sinfonia and first choral movement of Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen, BWV 146 (1726); and the last movement for the opening sinfonia of Ich habe meine Zuversicht, BWV 188 (1728). In these cantata versions the orchestra was expanded by the addition of oboes.
  
  Like the other harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052 has been widely believed to be a transcription of a lost concerto for another instrument. Beginning with Wilhelm Rust and Philipp Spitta, many scholars suggested that the original melody instrument was the violin, because of the many violinistic figurations in the solo part--string-crossing, open string techniques--all highly virtuosic. Williams (2016) has speculated that the copies of the orchestral parts made in 1734 (BWV 1052a) might have been used for a performance of the concerto with Carl Philipp Emanuel as soloist. There have been several reconstructions of the putative violin concerto; Ferdinand David made one in 1873; Robert Reitz in 1917; and Wilfried Fischer prepared one for Volume VII/7 of the Neue Bach Ausgabe in 1970 based on BWV 1052. In 1976, in order to resolve playability problems in Fischer's reconstruction, Werner Breig suggested amendments based on the obbligato organ part in the cantatas and BWV 1052a.