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Sharnetta Campbell

MUHS 3703

Prof. Cooper

06 November 2023

On Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

When it comes to the analysis of many baroque pieces, musical scholars are

inclined to choose a route of strictly compositional analysis. However, one could be

able to expand their knowledge of Bach’s compositional motivations if they looked to

other aspects of his environment that would facilitate such creative thought, specifically

in regards to his Bradenburg Concertos. With this approach, there are two common

branches: that of societal motivation and that of religious motivation. Within the society

based analysis there are also two primary camps. The first supports the idea that

Bach’s music was made to be universal and provide insight to be applied throughout

time. The second supports the idea that Bach’s concertos were written as a product of

societal influences and as a commentary on such. This analysis also brings up the fact

that within music of this time period there were the prominent ideals of embodying order

for the community and that individual expression was the equivalent of transgressing

order. Based on these ideals, the correlation of the concerto grosso as the community

and the concertino as individual expression is created. In addition, there is the

implication that the concertino is subordinate to the ripieno, mainly due to the fact that

the ripieno is the main theme and also begins and ends the piece characteristically.

The final and seemingly the most logical analysis process would be that of the

religious aspect. This viewpoint is supported primarily by various notes and highlighted
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passages within Bach’s Lutheran Bible, which shows how much he valued concepts

such as order through the focus on scriptures from Deuteronomy and 1 Chronicles.

Within these scriptures and through Bach’s own commentary, it is evident that the

church believed that order served a purpose to us only because we live in the earthly

plane. Because of this, some have understood Bach’s concertos to be a commentary

on the fact that even though the social hierarchy is necessary to us here and now, once

we die it ultimately doesn’t matter anymore. This view highlights the idea that Bach’s

concertos wanted to present music to people that would get them to think spiritually

again and allow their thoughts to focus on what God would expect from them. I

primarily support this analysis of Bach’s concertos due to the time period that they were

written and the overall focus on religion over most other social aspects of society.

However, when one considers the commonality between the three branches of thought,

it is evident that they all have the same general premise to an extent that Bach’s overall

point wasn’t to advocate to change our understanding of the social hierarchy, but rather

to point out that it actually doesn’t really matter anyways.