Italian Concerto
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The Italian Concerto (properly entitled Concerto in the Italian Style), BWV 971, is a three-movement solo harpsichord concerto composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1735. The work was published as part of Clavier-Übung II, along with the French Overture. The Italian Concerto has become quite popular among Bach's keyboard works, and has been widely recorded both on the harpsichord and the piano.
Its three movements are as follows:
The Italian Concerto's two lively F major outer movements, in a ritornello style, frame a central arioso-style movement in the relative minor, D minor.
Though a concerto by definition relies upon the contrasting roles of different groups of instruments in an ensemble, Bach achieves a similar effect by creating contrasts using the forte and piano manuals of a two-manual harpsichord alternatively throughout the piece. (Bach also transcribed real Italian concertos by Vivaldi and others (BWV 972-987) for solo harpsichord (and others for solo organ or pedal harpsichord.)
