Bach, Brandenburg Concerto #3, First Movement, Allegro

FAQ

The first movement of Bach's third Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1048, accompanied by a scrolling, bar-graph score. This concerto is unusual in that each of the three violins, three violas, and three violoncellos have solo parts.

Q: Where can I see the score for this piece?
A: The score that the bar-graph score is based on is here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/brand3mvt1.pdf
The first page of Bach's original manuscript is here:
http://www.musanim.com/img/BachBrandenburg3ManuscriptPage1.jpg

Q: Who is playing this piece?
A: The Advent Chamber Orchestra. I got this recording from the Wikimedia Commons:
http://tinyurl.com/brand3m1
This recording is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Q: What do the colors means?
A: When the instruments in each section play in unison, there is a single fat (tall) note for all three; when they have solos, the notes are thinner (about half as high). The violins are shades of red, the violas are shades of green, and the violoncellos are shades of blue. The contrabass is sort of a brownish-gray, and is always wide, since it doesn't have solos. When two instruments play the same note, the colors blend (e.g. red + green = yellow).

Q: Is there a way I could make bar-graph scores like this myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate a display like this (though not with the different note heights); 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: First, check my "to do" list:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMToDoList.html ...
If the piece isn't listed, read the "Could you please do a MAM video of _________?" item on my main FAQ:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/mamfaq.html#copyright ...
and if you think I'd consider doing it, email me (stephen at musanim dot com).

Q: Can I get a DVD with pieces like this?
A: Yes:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/video.html
.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bach
• Brandenburg
• concerto
• strings
• chamber
• music
• classical
• baroque
• scrolling
• score
• bar
• graph
• piano
• roll
• animation
• animate

[ez45]

It takes Bach a motif of three tones. And he makes music like this.

[smalin]

@ez45 Yeah ... it took Beethoven four notes.

[DaveMoustache]

@smalin you mean the 5th? How about the first three notes of the toccata in d? They're pretty recognizable too ;)

[smalin]

@DaveMoustache That's true, but it's not by Beethoven.

[DaveMoustache]

@smalin I know. I should've specified that I meant Bach.

[smalin]

@DaveMoustache But we already had a piece by Bach with a three note motif.

[DaveMoustache]

@smalin Blah! The point I tried to make is that it doesn't take many notes to make a recognizable melody. The Toccata is one of the most famous "few-note" examples. So is Beethovens Fifth.

[evvamazing]

Loveeeee

[TheFinalFrontiersman]

This was how I used to write music a a little kid! :D

[phr4nk3rd00d13]

hmm, i like the visualisations. but how do they work? like, how are they made, and what do they represent? O_o is it like sheet music in some way?

[Reptile61]

if this was only in stereo