Bach’s title as concertmaster was new in the early eighteenth century; at Weimar it implied direction of the court music ensemble, at least in the new vocal works that Bach was now expected to produce every four weeks. Beginning in 1714 he composed several dozen church cantatas on a regular basis, including BWV 182, 12, and 31. These were preceded by a handful of significant vocal works, among them the “Hunt Cantata” (BWV 208). But the greatest number of compositions from this period are for organ and keyboard, including the “Great Eighteen” chorales, the “Dorian” toccata and fugue, transcriptions of concertos, and the Chromatic Fantasia, all discussed in this chapter. Also considered is the influence of Telemann on Bach and his compositions.
