Shifting from operatic music, which was often driven by text, to Bach’s concertos, which have no words, I was worried that I would perceive his music as lacking structure or as chaotic and muddled. To my surprise, however, I found that in the first movement of Bach’s Bradenberg Concerto No. 5, I felt a sense of geometry in the form that the music took. The concerto begins with an orchestral ensemble of many stringed instruments playing together. At twenty seconds, there is a distinct shift from the orchestral ripieno to the soloist concertino (which Greenberg tells us is made up of a flute, violin, and a harpsichord). This is the first of many such transitions that occur throughout the movement, allowing the listener to move back and forth between a complex ensemble to a simpler concertino. As per Greenberg’s description of Bach’s concerto, the ritornello theme itself is only played at the beginning and end, and there are different variations of it that pop up throughout the middle of the concerto. However, I felt that the general affects of the ripieno and concertino were distinctive enough that even when they were played slightly differently than before, I was still able to differentiate between the two and experience a sense of continuity in the piece. For example, at 1:06, the listener once again hears the ripieno, and even though it sounds like there may be less instruments here than there were when we were first introduced to this theme at the beginning, it is similar enough to the original ripieno that I could easily recognize it. Moreover, the transition from this shorter-version ripieno to the concertino at 1:12 is distinct and dramatic. While the ripieno always sounds showy, a little brusque, and faster-paced, the concertino is softer and more fluid.

While this back-and-forth between the concertino and ripieno occurs quite dependably for much of the piece, what was particularly interesting to me was the sort of chaotic descent that occurs at 7:52. After the concertino, instead of transitioning back to the ripieno, there is a long solo by the harpsichordist. The rhythm and melody of this section does not seem to jive with the previous melodies of the piece. Moreover, from 8:17 to 8:43, the same short melody is played at different pitches one after the other.  This section seems to escalate in intensity with each repetition, and as I listened, I felt myself losing sense of the structure I felt before. However, at 8:54, Bach returns to the ritornello theme we heard right at the beginning of the piece.  Thus, despite feeling momentary tension during the harpsichord solo, I felt a release of this tension with the return of the theme that I fondly remembered from the beginning of the piece. Through repetition and symmetry, the piece therefore came together for me and ended with a satisfying sense of finality.