J.S. Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No. 2, BWV 1053 (1738) {G. Leonhardt}

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations as well as for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

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Harpsichord Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1053 (1738)
Composer's arrangement of a Oboe Concerto in F major, BWV 1053R.
Holograph manuscript, n.d. (ca.1738) in Bach's own handwriting.

I. [no tempo marking] (0:00)
II. Siciliano (8:44)
III. Allegro (13:46)

Gustav Leonhardt, harpsichord and the Leonhardt Consort
rec. 1962

Several prominent scholars, Siegbert Rampe and Dominik Sackmann, Ulrich Siegele, and Wilfried Fischer have argued that Bach transcribed this concerto from a lost original for oboe or oboe d'amore (Rampe and Sackmann argued for a dating in 1718-19). Alternatively, Christoph Wolff has suggested that it might have been a 1725 concerto for organ. An organ version exists, like BWV 1052, in a later transcription in his cantatas Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169 and Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49.

Bach changed his method of arrangement with this work, significantly altering the ripieno parts from the original concerto for the first time, limited much more to the tutti sections. The lower string parts were much reduced in scope, allowing the harpsichord bass to be more prominent, and the upper strings were likewise modified to allow the harpsichord to be at the forefront of the texture.