This concerto for Oboe was composed during the 1700’s; and a number of theories exist that provide conflicting background to its origin.
The concertos Bach wrote for one or more harpsichords and string instruments during his years in Leipzig, for the local Collegium Musicum, are often thought to be arrangements of concertos he had written earlier for other solo instruments. But which instruments?
Numerous suggestions have been made, on the basis of transposing the works to various keys, judging how playable those keys are for different instruments, and seeing whether the lowest and highest notes are within the instruments’ range.
BWV 1053 appears to work best as a concerto for oboe d’amore in D major or, as in this case, an oboe concerto in F major. For every ‘solution’, however, question marks and problems remain, and nothing is certain. But that’s actually a good thing, as then other instrumentalists can always come up with different reconstructions.
With all the above uncertainties, let us just focus on the music itself. It’s beauty needs no further explanation:
