Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F

J. S. BachBWV 1047

Key

F

Time

C

Tempo

♩=110

AO focus

AO3

Form

Concerto grosso for an unusual concertino: trumpet, recorder, oboe, and violin, with strings + continuo. The high natural-trumpet writing is famously demanding — only a handful of players in the world play it on the period instrument.

Teaching points

• Concertino (the four soloists) vs ripieno (the strings + continuo) — discuss the alternation
• Trumpet writing — the natural trumpet stays in its highest register (clarino), where the harmonic series spans nearly chromatically. Period vs modern trumpet performance practice
• AO3: the four soloists are unequal — the trumpet dominates the texture by sheer volume. How does Bach balance them?
• Contextual: this was the piece chosen to play first on the Voyager Golden Record sent into space in 1977