Tag Archives: italian concerto

How to Play the Bach Italian Concerto on Piano – Part 2

As we discussed in Part 1 of this lesson, Bach wrote this “concerto” as a solo piece and it’s not what you would typically think of as a concerto (one instrument or a group of instruments with orchestra). To replicate the sound of a traditional concerto, Bach wrote dynamics for both hands throughout the piece. Last week we talked briefly about the first movement of the piece, today you will get some tips on the second movement.

In the right hand, you have a beautiful and luscious melody while the left hand is to be played very quietly. The right hand has an almost improvisational quality. Classical composers improvised quite a bit in their days, however, since recording technology wasn’t invented yet we really have no examples of what it sounded like. One could imagine that the right hand in the second movement of the Italian Concerto is a glimpse into the styling of Bach’s improvisational work.

The left hand in this piece has a repeated regular pattern of 8th notes and is a great place to focus as you begin learning the second movement. If you listen to the piece, you’ll notice that there is a nice steady beat to these notes. Think of it almost like a heartbeat that holds up the structure of the music.

When I play this piece, sometimes I use a little bit of pedal, sometimes I use no pedal at all. It’s always a great idea to practice without the pedal so it doesn’t act as a crutch. One way to approach without the pedal is to play the top notes of the thirds legato and the bottom notes more detached. This will help to bring out the clarity of the lines. The secret to this is utilizing good fingering. If done correctly, this will give the illusion that it’s two instruments playing together. Baroque music is personified by counterpoint and this is one example of that.

When it comes to the right hand, you should always remind yourself that the ornamentation should not affect the rhythm. You should play very expressively but don’t get that confused with changing tempo. Many times people will see trills and turns and think it means playing fast, which is not the case. Here you will want to play the lines very expressively, letting them stand out and playing them as beautifully as possible.

I’ve had numerous videos talking about the importance of the arms when playing piano; here is no different. You can use the weight of the arms – both left and right to create a nice balance and tone between the two hands. Use more weight in the right hand to bring out the melody.

Thanks again for joining me. I will be producing some much more thorough lessons in the near future on specific repertoire like this. If you would like to be notified when these become available please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com

How to Play the Bach Italian Concerto on Piano – Part 1

Welcome to my ongoing series of lessons for specific repertoire. I have much more advanced lessons on piano pieces on the way. If you would like to be notified when these become available, please email me: Robert@Livingpianos.com.

This is an iconic piece by Bach and it has a very interesting history behind it. While it’s called the Italian Concerto, Bach never visited Italy! In fact, Bach was German and traveled very little in his life. A concerto is a piece of music with a group of instruments or a solo instrument with an accompanying orchestra. This piece is purely a solo work – there is no orchestra or even other instruments involved. So how can this be a concerto?

There is no doubt that Bach was a musical genius. He spent his life in Germany but would encounter many visiting musicians from other countries. He would make a point of listening to the music and the styles of different countries and cultures and he would then emulate that in some of his own works. He wrote French Suites, English Suites, and the Italian Concerto just by listening to visiting artists.

Bach was an incredibly busy man. He had over twenty children and at one time composed complete masses every week for not one, but two churches! Even though he left an incredible body of work, most of his music was all but forgotten after his death.

The great composer Felix Mendelssohn worked at the same church as Bach had a century earlier and uncovered many of Bach’s manuscripts. He is credited with bringing the music of Bach to the masses. Even though Bach’s existing work is immense and diverse, it actually represents a very small fraction of his actual output – most of which was lost forever. There are even urban legends of people wrapping fish in Bach manuscripts.

If you’ve ever seen Bach’s original compositions you would notice that there are almost no dynamics written in the scores. If you see anything written in it’s most likely an editorial suggestion. Bach probably did not write them. A huge exception to this, however, is the Italian Concerto; every single section has dynamics. Not only does the piece have dynamics throughout, they are actually written specifically for each hand.

Throughout the composition, each hand will either be playing forte or piano. Sometimes both hands will be forte or piano and on other occasions, one hand will play one dynamic while the other hand is the opposite. This is the way Bach achieved the quality and sound of a concerto with only a solo instrument – he created the effect of large and small groups in a solo keyboard work with different hands emulating solo and ensemble playing.

So what’s the best way to approach this work? Being a Baroque piece, you will not want to take many liberties with the tempo; practicing with a metronome is advised. You should be able to maintain a steady beat while playing this piece.

You should also pay very close attention to the dynamics. In fact, this is the first piece I ever learned to play on the harpsichord because it was easy to delineate which keyboard to play on a two-manual harpsichord. I set one of the keyboard registrations to be loud and the other to be soft, allowing a very easy flow from one keyboard to the other by following the dynamics written in the score.

The other aspect of this piece to pay very close attention to is the phrasing. In my previous lesson for Bach’s Minuet in G, I mention a technique for using the wrist with the staccato sections and being able to link the notes almost seamlessly in the legato sections. The same basic principle applies to this piece as well.

These are some general tips and next time I will be covering other movements of the piece. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin: Robert@LivingPianos.com