Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major

Almost fanfare-like, a punchy three-note summons launches a work that shares DNA with its A minor violin concerto sibling BWV 1041, yet nonetheless carves out a distinctive niche all its own. In the bright key of E major, BWV 1042 adopts the same three-movement plan popularised by Vivaldi; both concertos invest considerable emotional capital in slow movements built over a repeating bass; and both are impossible to date with certainty—possibly belonging to Leipzig and Bach’s leadership (from 1729) of the city’s Collegium Musicum, or to his spell in the service of the musical Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (1717-23). Yet whatever the similarities, the differences are striking too. The E major’s first movement sidesteps the Italian ritornello scheme built around a recurring idea spliced with contrasting episodes. Instead, it anticipates the classical era’s three-fold division where a repeat of the opening paragraphs enfolds a developmental central section – here in C sharp minor and capped by a brief cadenza. BWV 1041’s finale had looked towards the gigue; BWV 1042’s is driven by the ruggedly determined triple-time gait of the “Passepied” – five statements of the opening proposition ambushed by ever-increasing virtuosity from the soloist. In the “Adagio” middle movement, rather than seeking to free itself from the repeating bass as in BWV 1041, the solo violin engages it in deep conversation; and when the bass suddenly vanishes, the music hovers momentarily, warmed by the reassuring glow of a switch to the major key.