Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051

Main page for Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

• Bach composed this concerto by 1721, when it was included in the set of Six Concerts avec plusieurs Instruments which he sent to the Margrave of Brandenburg.
• This concerto is scored for two violas, two violas da gamba, cello and continuo. It use of only lower strings gives it a warmer timbre than we often hear in standard orchestral music.¹

1. Christoph Wolff and Walter Emery, “Bach, Johann Sebastian,” Grove Music Online (2001), Accessed January 6, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278195.