Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)- Double Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043 
The six years (1717-1723) that Bach spent in the court of Cöthen yielded some of his most enduring music.  These were the years of the Brandenburg Concerti, orchestral suites, solo suites for string instruments, chamber music, solo keyboard works, and other concerti, including the E major Violin Concerto and the “Double” Violin Concerto. 

Up until 1717, Bach specialized mostly in organ music or choral church music.  When he agreed to work in a Calvinist court in Cöthen church, his former employer prevented him from doing so.  Bach was jailed for one month before being released to Cöthen, where his salary was doubled and he was provided with a more proficient orchestra.  The musicians must have sparked his imagination or provided him the means to push his music to further limits.  In Calvinist Cöthen, church music was not allowed, so Bach had the freedom to pursue more abstract forms.  Bach applied his contrapuntal magic to the emerging genre of orchestral music; he wove overlapping inter-related melodies with elaborate countersubjects into orchestras that were used to simpler dance rhythms or subdued concerto accompaniments.

Bach was the best keyboardist of his time, but he was also a masterful violin player, having served as concertmaster of several orchestras.  His solo violin sonatas and partitas still form the basis of the violin repertoire, and practically all violinists who can call themselves that have studied at least one of his concertos.  The concertos offer technically flowing and idiomatic violin writing, and at the same time offer musical challenges.  The concertos are influenced by the Italian ‘Ritornello’ form; a theme keeps returning in the orchestra, interspersed by solo violin episodes.  But no one should mistake Bach’s concerti for Vivaldi’s or Corelli’s or even Handel’s.  Bach’s unique fingerprint stems from his use of counterpoint—there is always a moving line somewhere—and not necessarily in the solo parts.  Every note seems to have meaning, rather than mindless arpeggiation patterns.  The first movement of the E major concerto features three note triad motto that gives rise to many interesting responses.  The D minor concerto keeps everyone in the orchestra busy with counter subjects in the first movement, interrupted by thrilling solo passages.  The lengthy slow movement features a sublime duet that weds graceful descending long notes with a probing line of moving triplets.