MELODY HARMONY

Lots of the melody has a stepwise (conjunct) movement, The harmony uses standard chords of the time KEY
although there are some leaps. 3 Grade 5 Grade 8 Grade
The music is diatonic (all the notes/chords come from
There are rising sequences (when a short phrase is the key signature)
repeated going one note higher each time) Perfect cadences announce the ends of sections, such
There are lots of scalic runs (notes going up and down a RHYTHM, TEMPO and METRE as the perfect cadence in B minor at the end of the B
scale) The metre is 2/4.
TONALITY
section.
The piece uses lots of triplets and dotted rhythms. The harmony uses standard chords of the time (mainly The main tonality for the piece is D major
There are lots of ornaments such as grace notes
(appoggiaturas) and trills The harpsichord part has lots of fast semiquaver runs. chords I, IV and V, with occasional use of ii and vi) The B section is in the relative minor key of
The first melody idea (subject) starts with an anacrusis.
B minor
Because of the large number of triplets, the piece could The harmony is functional (perfect cadences are used
The final A section is back in D major.
also be notated in 6/8 time. to move between closely related key signatures).
In the baroque era the dotted quaver-semiquaver The harmony uses mainly root position and first The key modulates often to the dominant
grouping (like in the first bar) would have been inversion chords. (A major) and the dominant of the
performed in triplet rhythm (with the dotted quaver dominant (E major), indicated by the
There are occasional suspensions.
lasting 2/3 of a beat, and the semiquaver lasting 1/3 or addition of accidentals.
a beat.

BACH—BRANDENBURG TEXTURE
STRUCTURE
The piece is in ternary form (ABA)
CONCERTO No 5 The texture is polyphonic (more than one melody

MOVEMENT 3
happening at the same time)
The opening A section begins in a fugal style. There is use of imitation (when one part imitates
The B section is in the relative minor key, and con- another in a call and response style)
A wooden baroque flute
tains a new theme which is similar to the first The movement begins in a fugal style. A fugue is a
theme in the A section. There are also fragments of SONORITY/INSTRUMENTS
complicated piece which uses lots of imitation
the A section theme in the B section. DYNAMICS This piece uses a solo flute and violin, a harpsichord, and a string or- throughout. This movement is not an actual fugue, but it
chestra (including violin, viola, cello and double bass) uses fugal techniques, like the start of the opening A
There are only a few dynamic
markings on the score, and these section.
The group of solo instruments (violin, flute and harpsichord) are known
BACKGROUND INFORMATION are there mostly for balance rea- as the concertino.
Sometimes the solo flute and violin play the same thing
sons, like having the violin play in unison
This piece was written in the Baroque era. The string orchestra are known as the ripieno.
Bach wrote a set of six concertos for the Margrave of quieter so the flute can be heard The bass/cello and harpsichord sometimes act as the basso contuino in When the flute and violin come in at the start, they are
Brandenburg as part of a job application. the piece. This means the bass instruments play a bass line, and the playing in two part imitation.
There are no dynamic markings
harpsichord “realises” the chords on top (when it is not playing a solo When the harpsichord comes in at the start, it plays the
This is a concerto grosso. A solo concerto has just one for the harpsichord, because the
part) subject in the left hand, then the answer in the right.
soloist, but a concerto grosso has a group of soloists harpsichord used in this piece
The harpsichord plays in 2 part counterpoint.
(the concertino) would not have been able varied Bach broke with tradition in this piece by making the harpsichord part Once all solo instruments are playing, they are playing in
This is the third of three movements in the concerto. dynamics, it stayed at one volume incredibly virtuosic (difficult and impressive!), with lots of fast scalic 4 part counterpoint.
runs and trills in both hands at once. Occasionally the flute and violin play in thirds.
This is chamber music, written for a small group of musi-
The baroque flute is different from the modern flute, as it was made of At the start of the B section there is a tonic pedal on B
cians rather than a full orchestra
wood.