Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major, BWV 1047

bach: brandenburg concerto no.2 (Allegro assai)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major, BWV 1047

Allegro assai

Nobody knows whether the Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, for whom Bach wrote his six Brandenburg Concertos in about 1720, or Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, whose Kapellmeister Bach was when he wrote them, enjoyed fireworks. We do know that Christian Ludwig never had them played, with or without fireworks. Prince Leopold, on the other hand, must have known the concertos very well and if he liked fireworks as much as he enjoyed the playing of his trumpeter, Johann Ludwig Schreiber, nothing could have pleased him more than to put on a display to match the brilliance of the trumpet - the most prominent soloist in an ensemble including also flute, oboe and violin - in the last movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major.