Played by Edward Isaacs

Italian Concerto

The Italian Concerto is an attempt to apply to one instrument the principles of alternation and of contrast that were observed in writing music for an instrument (or group of instruments) used with some form of Orchestra. It is a Concerto, but a one-man Concerto, the only piece so named that Bach ever wrote for one performer

The instrument for which it was intended was the double-keyboard Harpsichord, in which contrasts of tone unavailable in the single- keyboard form could be taken into account by the Composer. Bach's use of the one keyboard or the other is indicated by the words 'forte ' and 'piano,' and sometimes one direction is applied to the righthand part and the other to the left, so presenting an effect which would have been impossible upon a single-keyboard Harpsichord, and the possibility of which upon the Harpsichord's successor, the Pianoforte, gives point to the name it has received.

The title refers to the fact that the Italians established the Concerto form as a chain of Movements (usually, as here, three-two quick ones, with a slow one in the middle).