I believe the Adagio is one of the most sincere expressions of sorrow I’ve heard in my life. All of that searching, longing, suffering, only to end right back where it began. It’s devastating.
I really can't stand this brand new Air BMB TV commercial. It shows these children appearing from out of nowhere. It causes me to fantasize about every single comic book artist and author screeching for his dear life. Is Craig Ferguson going to say, that's crazy, funny stuff?
They are quite far away from each other, but during Bach's time Vivaldi was a superstar composer in Europe, so Bach knew about him. In fact, he even arranged one of Vivaldi's concertos into the Concerto for Four Harpsichords, BWV 1065.
An amazing concerto, one of the greatest. And perhaps the most astounding, because it creates such wonderfully rich and varied music with such limited forces
My favourite work of music, classical or otherwise. The movements balance each other well and the genius of Bach really comes through in the music. I was so shocked when I heard this for the first time.
I know this concert by Heart btw each time I listen to the progression starting at 3:45 I cry the same tears of Euclid, Ptolemy, Archimedes, Diophantus, Pythagoras and of all who imagined the music of celestial spheres.
@@AMC08I believe it was the other way around and this concerto existed before the transcription for harpsichord, though the fact both could be understood as the original says enough about Bach's ability to transcribe in itself.
@@vir-music I've been thinking about it. C major is joyful, triumphant, very good at making a statement, it's not that C major isn't bright. But raise the pitch up those two two tones and it changes. It sparkles, it's alive, like it's bathed in sunshine but it's not yellow. I don't have synesthaesia but to me E major is the colour green. And just in case you're wondering, no, I'm not on edibles lol 😁😁 I really associate E major with the end of Shostakovich's 10th symphony. After all that heaviness and darkness of E minor, the symphony ends in demented, circus music in E major. It's so bright and colourfully blaring. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about lol It's all subjective and like all other art, it means whatever it means to any of us.
To me it’s joy as could be had in a time of diet and disease and clothes that weighed 20 pounds and early death. Bright yes, but the brightness of people coming out of a damp basement
Marvelous, and thank you for leaving all the comments available. I can tell my fellow quartet members the Brandenburg we heard wasn't just in our imaginations. Great work, friend.
I'll never miss this one now. This makes me think about being in the old-timer Cabrillo College concert hall back then during the late 1970s. I really wished that I had goofed around less those days as well.
+Chloe B Bach had to produce so much music (both sacred and secular) in the course of his duties, and he was so prolific and inventive, one can hardly blame him for recycling and adapting earlier music from time to time. One amazing thing -- when adapting previously written music, he almost always made small improvements and changes - he didn't do it mechanically.
+hemiolaguy Yes, I have noticed small differences between this and the harpsichord one. I like when he reproduced music. It's one of the many reasons I love Bach :)
He reused lots of themes and arias......Lots of his Cantatas were used to make the Mass in Bm, specially you will notice the Agnus Dei was taken from a Cantata's aria "Entfernet euch, ihr kalten Herzen" He even recycled the "Gratias Agimus Tibi" as the "Dona Nobis Pacem" (it was Bach's favourite piece of the whole Mass, so no wonder why he repeated it) Also, some works were reinstrumented for different soloists.
Can someone please explain to me? At the 2:45 point, listening to many performances, I get the feeling that the soloist is playing separately from the orchestra. Why are the top notes emphasized here rather than the first sixteenth notes for a smoother and clearer sound? I feel like everything is about to fall apart
The bassline in the Adagio reminds me of a very slow heartbeat, perhaps representing the literal or figurative ailing heart. The soaring solo violin above would then represent the muse, contemplating his life of the past and the death in the future. If Beethoven had the opportunity to take melodic inspiration from modern-day heart monitors with its jagged blinking lines, he too would have written such a bassline and melody - not that he hasn't done it already.
As a lover of baroque music, I should know this, but what is Continuo, and why is there no cello part, and if it's the harpsichord, why is there no left and right hand, only one line?
Hey, so I know I'm a bit late, but in case you never got an answer, here it is: The Continuo line refers to a group of instruments in the baroque era called the 'Continuo group.' This group of instruments usually included the cello, the violone (an early version of the bass) and the harpsichord, but could also include the lute and the bassoon in rare occasions. The reason the harpsichord doesn't have a right hand part is that the harpsichordist was expected to improvise or write their own part based on the numbers under the continuo part, which specify what notes are supposed to be played over the given bass note. Sorry for the long reply, but I hope this helps!
