On 5 August 1717,  Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) signed agreement with Leopold, Prince of Anhalt–Köthen, to be appointed Kapellmeister of the court chapel in Köthen.   The great Baroque master was highly valued by the aristocrat, who was an ardent admirer of tonal art and a fine musician – he played the harpsichord and the viola da gamba. As Leopold was s a Calvinist (with simplified liturgical ordinances in Calvinist churches including on the musical side only the singing of hymns), Bach temporarily abandoned the writing of spiritual cantatas and organ pieces. In the subsequent six–year period (until 1723), he created mostly instrumental music for the court concerts and celebrations. The chapel he led numbered eighteen excellent instrumentalists. Its performing repertoire of German and Italian authors for orchestra and varied chamber ensembles included works by Johann Sebastian. The Köthen years produced for us the solo violin sonatas and partitas, the violoncello suites, the Brandenburg Concertos, the two–part keyboard inventions, the French and English suites, the Friedemann and Anna Magdalena notebooks, as well as the violin concertos of the master. However, there were only few of them to survive: two concertos for violin and orchestra (in A Minor and C Major), two more concertos for violin, one for two violins (preserved in keyboard transcriptions made later in Leipzig) and the most famous – the Concerto for two violins and Orchestra in D Minor BWV 1034, which you will have the opportunity to hear tonight in the performance of the two brothers Vesko Panteleev – Eshkenazy and Martin Panteleev.

In addition to his virtuosic organ and harpsichord play, in his childhood years Bach had also mastered the violin. At the age of 18 he joined the chapel of the Duke of Weimar in the capacity of violinist and later, assuming the functions of a Kappelmaster, he lead the string section as concertmaster. The composer was closely acquainted with the innovations introduced to violin concertos of the Italians (Corelli, Albinoni, Torelli, Tartini, Vitali, Germiniani, Vivaldi), and associated himself with famous violinists such as Johann Pisendel and Jean Baptiste Volumier, who were active in Dresden. As testified by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel in the obituary for the Master, he had played the violin well into his old age, in a “clear and moving” way.. The D–Minor Double Concerto was discovered in Emanuel’s library, who had obtained half of the original manuscripts of Bach violin concerto scores by inheritance.  Researchers refer the creation of this concerto to the period around 1718–1720, there is also a transcription for two harpsichords with orchestra dating back to 1736. The work is cast in three contrasting movements – the outer are fast and written in ritornello form. The two sonority groups – the concertante (the solo violins) and the accompanying (the so–called ripieni) parts, are in constant interaction between each other, penetrate each other, separate and reunite in skillful contrapuntal development. Bach made a perfect synthesis of the violin technique of the Italians which aimed at melodiousness, with the polyphonic power of the instrument, as displayed in the traditions of the German violin school. In the middle slow movement, set in a manner alla siciliana, the orchestra remains in the background, with the two violins intertwining their voices like an exquisite Baroque vocal duet – reflecting a kind of sensual expression and longing.