About this edition
Bach's Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056 is among the most beloved of his keyboard concertos, prized for its remarkable emotional range compressed into a work of striking economy. The luminous central Largo, with its pizzicato strings supporting a singing keyboard line, has become one of Bach's most recognizable slow movements — often heard in transcription and cited as a model of expressive restraint — while the outer movements display the incisive rhythmic drive and contrapuntal ingenuity that define Bach's Köthen and Leipzig concerto style. Scholars widely believe BWV 1056 is Bach's own arrangement of an earlier lost concerto, possibly for oboe or violin, making it a fascinating document of the composer's practice of reworking his own material.
This score reproduces the text from the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 17, published by Breitkopf und Härtel in Leipzig in 1869 and edited by Wilhelm Rust (1822–1892). The Bach-Gesellschaft edition, produced across nearly half a century by a distinguished society of scholars and musicians founded in 1850, was the first complete critical edition of Bach's works and remains a cornerstone of Bach scholarship. Rust, who edited more volumes of the series than any other editor, was renowned for the rigor of his source study and the care of his readings — qualities that have kept his editions in active use by performers and researchers to the present day.
About this edition:
- Format: Full orchestral score (harpsichord solo with strings and continuo)
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches — comfortable for study and rehearsal use
- Source: Reproduced from a public domain historical edition
- Editor of original: Wilhelm Rust, Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (1869)
- Publisher: Purple 4R Publishing
This edition faithfully reproduces a historical score that has entered the public domain, bringing this masterwork of the Baroque concerto repertoire within easy reach of conductors, harpsichordists, string players, students, and scholars alike. We're delighted to help keep Bach's music on stands and desks where it belongs.
