The Most Glorious Job Application in History: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
The six works known as the Brandenburg Concertos are, without question, the pinnacle of the Baroque concerto grosso form. They are a dazzling encyclopedia of instrumental color, contrapuntal genius, and pure, unadulterated joy. Yet, their origin story is a magnificent irony: they were, in essence, the most glorious and spectacularly unsuccessful job application in the history of music.
The story begins around 1719 when Johann Sebastian Bach, then employed by the music-loving Prince Leopold of Cöthen, traveled to Berlin to supervise the purchase of a new harpsichord. While
...
The Most Glorious Job Application in History: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
The six works known as the Brandenburg Concertos are, without question, the pinnacle of the Baroque concerto grosso form. They are a dazzling encyclopedia of instrumental color, contrapuntal genius, and pure, unadulterated joy. Yet, their origin story is a magnificent irony: they were, in essence, the most glorious and spectacularly unsuccessful job application in the history of music.
The story begins around 1719 when Johann Sebastian Bach, then employed by the music-loving Prince Leopold of Cöthen, traveled to Berlin to supervise the purchase of a new harpsichord. While there, he had the occasion to perform for Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, a nobleman with a known passion for collecting musical scores. The Margrave was so impressed that he invited Bach to send him some compositions. Two years later, in March of 1721, Bach delivered. He gathered six of his most brilliant and diverse instrumental concertos, had them copied onto beautiful presentation manuscripts, and sent them to the Margrave with a flowery dedication in French, humbly offering his “very humble services.” Bach, likely growing restless in Cöthen, was angling for a new position.
What happened next is a source of endless speculation and amusement. The Margrave, it seems, did absolutely nothing. He never replied, never paid Bach a fee, and almost certainly never had the concertos performed. A look at the court’s records shows his musical establishment was far too small to handle the virtuosic and wildly varied instrumentation Bach called for. The magnificent presentation score was simply shelved in the Margrave’s library and forgotten, only to be discovered over a century after Bach's death. The greatest job application ever written was never even properly opened.
The Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046, is the most richly and unconventionally orchestrated of the entire set. It is less a concerto grosso in the traditional sense and more a symphony with a riot of competing soloists. The scoring is extravagant, calling for two brilliant and notoriously difficult hunting horns (corni da caccia), three oboes, a bassoon, and, as if that weren't enough, a solo violino piccolo—a smaller, higher-pitched violin tuned a minor third above a standard violin, which gives its part a piercing, brilliant edge.
The work’s structure is also unusual. The first movement is a majestic and bustling affair, a vibrant tapestry of sound where themes are passed between the horns, oboes, and strings. The horns, with their thrilling fanfares, immediately evoke the aristocratic splendor of the hunt. The second movement, a poignant Adagio, is a masterpiece of instrumental color. The soaring oboe melody sings a lament over a dark, dense texture of strings, punctuated by dissonant, sighing figures that create a mood of profound pathos. A short, explosive allegro follows, serving as a bridge to the work's unique finale.
Instead of ending there, as a typical concerto would, Bach adds a fourth movement: a courtly Menuetto with a series of contrasting interludes. First comes a Trio for the woodwinds, a moment of rustic charm. This is followed by a lively Polacca (a Polish dance), led by the strings. The Menuetto returns before giving way to a final, brilliant Trio for the two horns and three oboes, a spectacular blaze of brass and wind sonority that brings this most festive and symphonic of concertos to a glorious close.
