Strategies for Hearing the First Movement of J. S. Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto

For most of the history of J. S. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concertos, scholarship has not kept pace with their popularity. Though frequently performed (and in this century recorded), they have been infrequently discussed in print. Recently, however, several large strides have been taken to narrow the gap. If one concerto draws more attention from listeners and researchers alike, it is the fifth. In particular, the first movement, with its greater length and complexity relative to the other concertos, and its dazzling harpsichord solo near the end, holds great fascination. This paper attempts to braid together various strands of recent research into a fuller, more nuanced understanding of the first movement of J. S. Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. Only a few comments about the six concertos as a set will be offered here. More will be written about the genesis of the fifth concerto, and about the ritornello structure of the first movement with respect to the conventions of the time. Finally, some ink will be spilled over the brilliant harpsichord solo that comes near the movement’s conclusion