JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Brandenburg concerto No. 1 for two corni da caccia, three oboes, bassoon, violino piccolo, two violins, viola, cello, and basso continuo in F major BWV1046
1. [...]
Performed by Concerto Italiano
Conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini
*Winner of the Grammaphone editor's Choice award, and the 2006 Grammaphone award for best baroque intrumental recording
*This concerto is the only one in the collection with four movements. An earlier version (Sinfonia, BWV 1046a) which does not use the violino piccolo was used for the opening of cantata BWV 208. This version lacks the third movement entirely, and the Polacca from the final movement, leaving Menuet - Trio I - Menuet - Trio II - Menuet. The first movement can also be found as the sinfonia of the cantata BWV 52, Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht. The third movement was used as the opening chorus of cantata BWV 207.
Just in case you didn't know, the violino piccolo is similar to a child's size violin, and is tuned a third or a fourth higher. The best-known violino piccolo is the Brothers Amati example in the National Music Museum, in Vermillion, South Dakota. By modern measurements, the body is 1/4 size, the neck 1/2 size, and the head corresponds to that of a 3/4 size instrument. The string length is the equivalent of a 4/4 violin stopped a minor third from the nut, which corresponds with its normal tuning of a third higher than a 4/4 violin. This Amati violin also has fingerboard widths similar to that of a 4/4 board cut a third shorter, which in view of the other measurements implies a clear conceptual relationship to the 4/4-sized violin.
Is Concerto Italiano a baroque orchestra?
Cmuska53 3 years ago
Yup.
HARMONICO101 3 years ago