Bach, Brandenburg Concerto # 4, 3rd mvt., presto

The third movement of J. S. Bach's fourth Brandenburg Concerto played on plucked strings, marimba and vibraphone, accompanied by a scrolling bar-graph score.

FAQ

Q: Where can I get the sheet music for this piece?
A: One of the scores I prepared for making this video is here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/b4m3_score.pdf

Q: Who is playing this piece?
A: Nobody; it's the playback from the music notation program Sibelius.

Q: Is there a way I could make the bar-graph scores myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: Please read this:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMRequests.html
.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bach
• brandenburg
• concerto
• animation
• animated
• scrolling
• score

[sammypark333]

@smalin At the beginning, this song sounds like a 5-voice fugue with a harmony line, then into a 4-voice fugue with 2 harmony lines in the bass (or something like that). Please explain to me what happens!

[smalin]

@sammypark333 This movement deviates from being a strict fugue in many ways. It starts with the subject being accompanied by a non-subject line in the bass. It does things which are like the subject but not exactly it (like replacing the first interval by an octave). It has a continuo part. It has long sections which are not fugal (and, in some cases, not contrapuntal). It's a movement of a concerto, and Bach took liberties with the fugue form that were appropriate for that context.

[mystfire]

LOL $0.64 download what a random number.

[smalin]

@mystfire Not really: 64 is 4 to the 3rd power.

[fl1pm1ster]

@smalin haha! and what significance does the number '4' have? :)

[smalin]

@fl1pm1ster It's the 4th Brandenburg.

[Debatewithme]

The Island. by Aldous Huxley

[yumeybaconcutout]

@smalin oh haha i see what you did there :) 4th concerto, third movement xD

[wcbroccoli]

Around 3:14 begins an episode that is supposed to be a quartet for two recorders, cello and basso continuo. But in this realization, the unusually active continuo line (actually an elaboration of the bare sounding cello line) is missing, leaving us with a trio when we should hear a quartet.

[wcbroccoli]

@sammypark333 What you think are "harmony lines" in the bass are actually counterpoints derived from phrases, rhythms and intervals in the fugue subject and/or a countersubject that accompanies some of the thematic entrances.

Keep in mind that the original sustained sounds of bowed strings playing counterpoint have been replaced by synthesized sounds with a quick decay that gives the illusion of a plucked accompaniment, i.e., what you called "harmony lines."

[wcbroccoli]

@sammypark333 The opening of this concerto is a formal 5-part fugal exposition of a single subject, introduced as follows: 1. ripieno viola ripieno /w continuo accompaniment, 2. 2nd ripieno violin, 3. 1st ripieno violin doubling the principal violin, 4. continuo, 5. 2 recorders doubling each other. It does not turn into "4-voice fugue with 2 harmony lines in the bass (or something like that)." It has no harmony lines. It's all counterpoint.

[wcbroccoli]

@sammypark333 Furthermore, just because a fugue is in 3,4,5 or more parts doesn't mean that all the parts play simultaneously from the end of the 1st exposiion to the last note of the fugue. And keyboard fugues, especially those for organ, often add an extra part or two near the end. Few Bach fugues are strict; many in WTC have an improvisational character.

And the "harmony lines" in the ?