Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 BWV 1049

In this movement, Bach develops in a particular way the traditional ritornello form of the baroque concerto. The primary thematic material - or ritornello - is presented in measures 1 to 6 and is repeated with minor variations in measures 7 to 12:

This ritornello (green box, measures 1 - 13) is part of a larger structure. Follows a transition, bridge, or episode (dashed box) that modulates to D major (measures 13 - 23):

The ritornello reappears in measure 23, now in D major:

Another transition brings us back to G major:

The ritornello reappears in G major :

A coda (black box) ends the section. We will give the name exposition to this first composite section.

We will identify the sections that present the ritonello with a green background.

A compound development follows the exposition:

A red background will identify the development sections.
Developmental subsections (red oval) are interrupted by two-bar fragments of the ritornello (incomplete box).
The violin is the soloist in this section.
The ritornellos follow the same order of keys of the exposition (G - D - G).
We end up in the key of E minor.

The E minor ritornello reappears in measure 137, followed by a coda.

A new development (157 to 209) leads us to C major.
The first development is 54 bars long, this one 52.
A fragmented ritornello in A minor connects the two development sections.
The flutes participate as soloists in measures 157 to 185.

Ritornello and coda in C major in measure 209.

A new development alternates development sections with fragmented presentations of the ritornello.
It starts in C major and ends in B minor.
The last ritornello dos not repeats and is followed by the coda.

NOTE: The size of the boxes is not proportional.

The movement ends with a repetition of the exposition. Note the formal symmetry of the movement:

NOTE: The size of the boxes is not proportional.

Measures 1 to 6

The first six measures present the ritornello.
The flutes are the soloists.
The principal violin doubles the first violin.

Measures 7 to 12

The ritonello is repeated inverting the flute voices.
The lead violin continues to double the first violin.

Philomusica of London (orchestra), Boyd Neel (conductor), Geoffrey Gilbert, Phillip Goody (flutes), Emanuel Hurwitz (violin)
Musical Masterpiece Society (Philips), 1955. Reissue Schattdorf: Gagnaux Collection
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0

Measures 13 to 23

This episode takes us to D major, the key of the dominant.
The lead violin assumes the role of soloist along with the flutes.
This passage is the first development of the thematic material.

Measures 23 to 28

We reach D major and the ritornello reappears.
Again the flutes present the primary thematic material—this time under a dominant pedal tone of the violin.

Measures 28 to 35

The ritornello is repeated.
The violin plays the sixteenth-note arpeggio that begins the ritornello.
The orchestra's violins play the thematic material assuming the role of soloists.

Measures 35 to 52

A new episode brings us back to G major:

Measures 57 to 69

The ritornello is repeated in G major:

Measures 69 to 83

The exposition ends with a coda that affirms the key of G major:

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. José Rodríguez Alvira.
Published by teoria.com

Search • Write to us

Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 BWV 1049 - I. Allegro

José Rodríguez Alvira