Bach's "Coethen"Concertos?

Synopsis

Music history, like your parents, often reminds us that "Life is NOT fair."

On today's date in 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kapellmeister at the Court of Prince Leopold of Coethen, wrote a flowery dedication (in rather bad French) on the title page of his manuscript score for six concertos and sent them off to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, perhaps angling for a job offer in response.

To this day, these pieces are known as the "BRANDENBURG Concertos," although in all probability they were composed for and played at Leopold's court. By all rights, they should be known as the "Coethen Concertos," especially since it appears the Margrave of Brandenburg's orchestra never performed them. Bach's concertos require virtuoso performers, and if the Margrave's musicians ever did look at the scores, they probably just bowed deeply and said, "With respect, your Highness, IN YOUR DREAMS."

The Coethen musicians might have been less intimidated by Bach's demanding scores, but perhaps Johann was already looking to move on. Prince Leopold's new bride was no music lover (and said so, rather pointedly) and Bach, a devoted church musician, perhaps felt frustrated by Coethen's strict Calvinism, which didn't even permit organ music during church services.

In any case, Bach didn't get a job offer from the Margrave, the Prince didn't get the credit, and on all the CD jewel box spines, it reads: "The BRANDENBURG Concertos."

Music Played in Today's Program

J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750) Brandenburg Concertos Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Delos 3185

On This Day

Births

• 1740 - American-born Moravian composer John Antes, in Frederickstownship, Pa.;

Deaths

• 1654 - German composer Samuel Scheidt, age 66, in Halle;

• 1916 - Spanish composer Enrique Granados, age 48, dies at sea returning to Europe from New York City when the S.S. Sussex is torpedoed in the English Channel by a German submarine during WWI;

• 1921 - French composer Deódat de Sévérac, age 48, in Céret;

Premieres

• 1784 - Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 15 in Bb, K. 450, at the Trattnerhof in Vienna, with composer as soloist;

• 1860 - Joachim: Violin Concerto ("Hungarian"), in Hannover, Germany;

• 1868 - Brahms: Piano Quintet in f, Op. 34, in Paris, with pianist Luise Langhans-Japha, with an unidentified string ensemble;

• 1881 - Verdi: opera "Simon Boccanegra" (2nd version, with libretto revised by Boito), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala;

• 1924 - Sibelius: Symphony No. 7, in Stockholm, with the composer conducting;

• 1932 - Randall Thompson: Symphony No. 2, in, Rochester, N.Y.;

• 1941 - Shostakovich: incidental music for Shakespeare's "King Lear," in Leningrad, at the Gorky Bolshoy Dramatic Theater;

• 1949 - Panufnik: "Tragic Overture," in New York City;

• 1984 - Philip Glass: opera "Akhnaten," in Stuttgart, at the Wurttemberg State Theater, with Dennis Russell Davies, conducting;

• 1996 - Thomas Oboe Lee: "ART: arias and interludes" for string quartet, in Gassoon Hall at Boston College by the Artaria Quartet;

• 2001 - Chihara: "Songs of Love and Loss," by violist Geraldine Waltherthe and the 20-voice San Francisco Chamber Singers, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, Calif., directed by Robert Geary;

Others

• 1721 - J.S. Bach dedicates his six "Brandenburg" Concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, whose orchestra apparently never performed them.