SATURDAY NIGHT JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, GABRIEL FAURE.

Johan Sebastian Bach wrote a number of harpsichord concertos prosaically labeled BWV 1052 to 1065 [BWV means Bach Werke Verzeichnis, or Bach Works Catalogue - MFBB]. Of these concertos, meant for harpsichord, strings and continuo, the first seven are written for a single harpsichord.

The following piece is the middle and Largo (slow) part of Concerto 1056, taking about 3 and a half minutes (the entire concerto, beginning with the Allegro Moderato part and ending with a Presto movement, lasts around ten minutes).



I meant to have this followed by another baroque piece but let's jump forward two centuries instead. Pavane by Gabriel Fauré. Heaven in your ears.



Fauré initially wrote his Pavane in F-sharp minor, Opus number 50, for piano. It is however better known in the version for orchestra. It seems that like this it is sometimes performed with an additional chorus, but I never heard it that way before.

I think that a while back I mentioned that the sarabande, a dance in triple metre, found its origin in a Spanish dance (it's rather from conquistadore-held Central America and only later moved across the Atlantic to the mother country, but whatever). Likewise, a pavane is inspired by a slow processional Spanish Court dance.

MFBB.