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- Bach, Johann Christian (J.C.)
- Einstein, Alfred
Duration: 21 minutes
Description: Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782) composed his Sinfonia Concertante in A major, W.C 34 for solo violin and cello with orchestra by 1775, the year in which Jean-Georges Sieber, Bach’s principal Parisian publisher, issued the work in parts. Although its exact composition date is not securely documented, its publication places it firmly within Bach’s mature London period, when the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach had become one of Europe’s most influential exponents of the elegant galant style and an important influence on the young Mozart. The sinfonia concertante, a genre especially fashionable in Paris during the later eighteenth century, combined elements of the symphony and concerto by setting two or more soloists against an orchestral ensemble, and Bach cultivated the form extensively. W.C 34 is unusual in comprising only two movements (1. Andante di molto; 2. Rondeau. Allegro assai), with violin and cello engaging in graceful dialogue against an orchestra of two oboes, strings, and, in later sources, two horns. Although the original 1775 publication omitted the horn parts, a full score incorporating horns appeared in this edition prepared by Alfred Einstein around 1934. Today, the Sinfonia Concertante in A major, W.C 34 is not a standard repertory work on the scale of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364, but it remains one of Johann Christian Bach’s better-known concertante compositions and has attracted distinguished modern advocates (including violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma) while its lyrical writing, conversational interplay between the two solo instruments, and polished Classical style make it an illuminating example of the cosmopolitan musical language that helped shape the young Mozart and the emerging Classical concerto tradition. Instrumentation: 0.2.0.0: 2.0.0.0: Hpchd in set: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): Solo Violin.Solo Cello in set. Reprint edition.