List of concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach


's Violin Concertos, BWV 1041–1043, and his six Brandenburg Concertos survive in their original instrumentation. His harpsichord concertos are mostly adaptations of concertos originally written for other solo instruments.
In his early career Bach transcribed concertos by other composers for solo organ and for solo harpsichord. Bach's Italian Concerto, composed in 1735, was one of his few works that he published during his life-time: it is an example of an unaccompanied concerto for two-manual harpsichord.

Early encounters with the concerto genre

The earliest documentary traces of Bach's involvement with the concerto genre include:
Bach wrote most, if not all, of his concerto transcriptions for organ and for harpsichord from July 1713 to July 1714. Most of these transcriptions were based on concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Other models for the transcriptions included concertos by Alessandro Marcello, Benedetto Marcello, Georg Philipp Telemann and Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar.
BWVKeyInstr.Model
592G majororganJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar:
592aG majorharpsichordJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: ; BWV 592
593A minororganVivaldi, Op. 3 No. 8: Concerto in A minor for two violins and strings, RV 522
594C majororganVivaldi, RV 208: Violin Concerto in D major "Grosso Mogul"
595C majororganJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar:, first movement, and/or BWV 984/1
596D minororganVivaldi, Op. 3 No. 11: Concerto in D minor for two violins, cello and strings, RV 565
972D majorharpsichordVivaldi, Op. 3 No. 9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230; BWV 972a
972aD majorharpsichordVivaldi, Op. 3 No. 9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230
973G majorharpsichordVivaldi, RV 299: Violin Concerto in G major
974D minorharpsichordMarcello, A.: Oboe Concerto in D minor
975G minorharpsichordVivaldi, RV 316
976C majorharpsichordVivaldi, Op. 3 No. 12: Violin Concerto in E major, RV 265
977C majorharpsichord
978F majorharpsichordVivaldi, Op. 3 No. 3: Violin Concerto in G major, RV 310
979B minorharpsichordVivaldi, RV 813: Violin Concerto in D minor
980G majorharpsichordVivaldi, RV 383: Violin Concerto in B-flat major,
981C minorharpsichordMarcello, B.: Concerto Op. 1 No. 2
982harpsichordJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: Concerto Op. 1 No. 1
983G minorharpsichord
984C majorharpsichordJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar:, and/or BWV 595
985G minorharpsichordTelemann:
986G majorharpsichord
987D minorharpsichordJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: Concerto Op. 1 No. 4

''Brandenburg Concertos'', BWV 1046–1051

Violin concertos, BWV 1041–1043

Concerto form in other compositions

''Sonate auf Concertenart''

The Sonate auf Concertenart format appears for example in Bach's organ sonatas.

In vocal compositions

Apart from adaptations of movements of his earlier concertos into his cantatas, Bach also directly composed movements of his vocal works in the concerto form: for example the opening chorus of his cantata BWV 7 has been described as having the format of an Italian violin concerto movement. Another example is the opening choral movement of Bach's Magnificat, the form of which only becomes, in Spitta's words, "thoroughly intelligible" when analysed as a concerto form.

Harpsichord concertos

Concertos for three to four harpsichords and orchestra, BWV 1063–1065

Concerto for two harpsichords, BWV 1061a

BWV 1061a, a concerto for two harpsichords without accompaniment, is Bach's original version of the Concerto for two harpsichords and strings, BWV 1061.

''Italian Concerto'', BWV 971

Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971, was published in 1735, as first of two compositions included in Clavier-Übung II.

Concertos for two harpsichords and orchestra, BWV 1060–1062

Harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1059

''Triple Concerto'', BWV 1044

Concerto as a vocal composition

Bach rarely used the name "Cantata" to indicate a vocal composition. Instead, "Concerto", closer to names of cantata precursors such as geistliches Konzert and Choralkonzert, is the name he used most often to indicate those compositions which later became known as his cantatas.

Sinfonia in D major, BWV 1045

, a movement in concerto form for violin and orchestra, is the opening of a cantata titled "Concerto" in Bach's autograph. The music breaks off before the vocalists enter. In the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis it appears as "Konzertsatz in D", in the range of the orchestral concertos.

Doubtful and spurious

For organ:
For harpsichord:
For chamber ensemble:
Orchestral concertos:
Detailed accounts of possible or conjectural reconstructions of Bach's harpsichord concertos for other solo instruments have been described systematically in the hand-book of Siegbert Rampe. No discussion for reconstructions is needed concerning the well-known two violin concertos BWV 1041, BWV 1042 and the double violin concerto BWV 1043, since these predate the harpsichord versions, BWV 1058, BWV 1054 and BWV 1063 respectively. The concerto BWV 1057 for harpsichord and two flutes ot recorders also has an extant original: the 4th Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1049. The concerto for two unaccompanied harpsichords BWV 1061a was modified slightly by adding strings in the first and last movements to produce BWV 1061. Vivaldi's concerto for four violins Op. 3 No. 10 was reworked by Bach as his concerto for four harpsichords BWV 1065.
The 5th Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1050, always was a concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord, also in its earlier version BWV 1050a. Earlier versions for unaccompanied keyboard instruments of all three movements of the Triple Concerto, BWV 1044, are extant. Other harpsichord concertos, and related cantata movements if available, have been the basis for several reconstructions. The letter "R", abbreviation of "Reconstruction", can be added to the BWV number of an extant Bach concerto to indicate a conjectured original of such concerto.

BWV 1052R

Based on BWV 1052, 1052a and/or on cantata movements BWV 146/1 and /2, and/or on what is known regarding the lost opening Sinfonia of BWV 188 :
Based on BWV 1053 and/or cantata movements BWV 169/1, /5 and 49/1 :
Based on BWV 1055:
Based on BWV 1056 and/or BWV 156/1 :
Based on the BWV 1059 fragment and on cantata movements BWV 35/1, 156/1 or 35/2, and 35/5 :
Based on BWV 1060:
Based on BWV 1063:
Based on BWV 1064: