Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar

• Name — Prince Johann Ernst • House — House of Wettin • Father — Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar • Mother — Charlotte Dorothea Sophia of Hesse-Homburg • Born — 25 December 1696 • Birthplace — Weimar • Died — 1 August 1715 • Place of death — Frankfurt

Johann Ernst was born in Weimar, the fourth son and sixth child of Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and second child of the Duke's second wife, Charlotte Dorothea Sophia of Hesse-Homburg. As a young child the prince took violin lessons from G.C. Eilenstein, who was a court musician. He studied at the University of Utrecht between February 1711 and July 1713. It is thought that Johann Ernst furthered his understanding of music at this time. From Utrecht, he could visit such centres as Amsterdam and Düsseldorf and it is known that he had copies of Italian music sent back to Weimar. (Household bills for the year from 1 June following his return record the cost of copying, binding and shelving music.) In particular, it is thought that he might have encountered Vivaldi's opus 3 set of violin concertos. The prince's interest in collecting music was sufficiently well known that P. D. Kräuter, when requesting leave of absence to study with Bach in Weimar, mentioned the French and Italian music that the prince was expected to introduce there. Kräuter also praised Johann Ernst's virtuosity as a violinist. On his return from university, Johann Ernst took lessons in composition with a focus on concertos from the local church organist Johann Gottfried Walther, a cousin of Bach. Walther had previously given the prince keyboard lessons and had given him his Praecepta der musicalischen Composition (Precepts of Musical Composition) as a twelfth birthday present. During his life, Walther transcribed seventy-eight concertos for keyboard. Bach also produced a number of virtuoso organ (BWV 592–6) and harpsichord (BWV 972–987) arrangements. These included some of the prince's own works (BWV 592, 592a, 595, 982, 984 and 987) as well as works by German and Italian composers, including Georg Philipp Telemann (BWV 985) and Vivaldi (BWV 972, 973 etc.). The Bach transcriptions were created roughly during the period July 1713–July 1714 between Johann Ernst's return from Utrecht and the prince's final departure from Weimar. There is some scholarly debate on Johann Ernst's role in the creation of these arrangements, whether he commissioned some from one or both of the musicians or whether Bach, in particular, was studying some of the works collected by the prince for their own sake. There are suggestions that on a visit to Amsterdam in February 1713 the Prince may have heard the blind organist J. J. de Graff, who is known to have played keyboard arrangements of other composers' concertos. In any case, Bach's encounter with the prince's collection, and especially the Italian music it contained, had a profound influence on the development of the composer's musical style. As well as influencing Bach, Johann Ernst completed at least nineteen instrumental works of his own before his death at age eighteen. These works show the influence of Italian music more than that of German models such as Bach. Johann Ernst died in Frankfurt after a long illness resulting from a leg infection, possibly a metastatic sarcoma, which, despite the intensive care of his heart-broken mother and medical treatments in Schwalbach, spread to the abdominal area. He was buried, not in Weimar, but in Homburg (Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) in the vault of his mother's family, the Landgraves of Hesse-Homburg. A period of mourning was declared in Weimar from 11 August to 9 November 1715. Music was banned, including in church, resulting in an interruption in Bach's attempt to build an annual cycle of cantatas. Following his death, six of the prince's concertos were sent to Telemann, who edited and published them in 1718. He himself had already started to have them set before his death. Telemann's own first publication, a 1715 set of six violin sonatas, had been dedicated to Johann Ernst.

Violin Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 1 No. 1, for violino principale and strings (violin I & II, viola, harpsichord): • Allegro • Adagio – Allegro • Un Poco Presto • Printed editions: Telemann 1718; Bergmann 2013 (Vol. 1) • Recordings: l'Oiseau-Lyre 1989; Thorofon 1997; cpo 2015 Adaptations: • Concerto in B-flat major for unaccompanied harpsichord, BWV 982, transcribed by Johann Sebastian Bach • Manuscripts: D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 280 • Printed editions: Naumann 1894 (p. 135) • Recordings: Thorofon 1997; cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 1 No. 2, for violino principale and strings (violin I & II, viola, harpsichord or cello): • Allegro • Largo • Andante • Printed editions: Telemann 1718; Hortschansky 2001; Bergmann 2013 (Vol. 1) • Recordings: cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 1 No. 3, for violino principale and strings (violin I & II, viola, harpsichord or cello): • Vivace • Pastorella • Presto • Printed editions: Telemann 1718; Bergmann 2013 (Vol. 1) • Recordings: cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 1 No. 4, for violino principale and strings (violin I & II, viola, harpsichord or cello): • Adagio – Presto – Adagio – Presto – Adagio • Allegro • Adagio – Vivace • Printed editions: Telemann 1718; Bergmann 2013 (Vol. 2) • Recordings: cpo 2015 Adaptations: • Concerto in D minor for unaccompanied harpsichord, BWV 987, transcribed by Johann Sebastian Bach • Manuscripts: D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 804 (Fascicle 34) • Printed editions: Naumann 1894 (p. 165) • Recordings: cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in E major, Op. 1 No. 5, for violino principale and strings (violin I & II, viola, harpsichord or cello): • [without tempo indication] • Siciliana • Allegro • Printed editions: Telemann 1718; Bergmann 2013 (Vol. 2) • Recordings: cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 1 No. 6, for violino principale and strings (violin I & II, viola, harpsichord or cello): • Vivace • Recitativo • Allegro • Printed editions: Telemann 1718; Bergmann 2013 (Vol. 2) • Recordings: cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in G major for violino principale, violin I & II obligato, violin I & II ripieno, viola, cello and harpsichord: • Allegro assai • Adagio • Presto e staccato • Manuscripts: D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVIII:66|3|9; D-WRz Mus IVf:19 • Printed editions: Hérengt & Kimura 2016 • Recordings: Thorofon 1997; cpo 2015 Adaptations: • Organ Concerto in G major, BWV 592, transcribed by Johann Sebastian Bach • Manuscripts: D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 280; D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 400a; D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 804 (Fascicle 31); D-LEb Peters Ms. 11 • Printed editions: Naumann 1891 (p. 149) • Recordings: Thorofon 1997 • Concerto in G major for unaccompanied harpsichord, BWV 592a, transcribed by Johann Sebastian Bach • Manuscripts: D-LEm Poel. mus. Ms. 29 • Printed editions: Naumann 1894 (p. 282) • Recordings: cpo 2015

Violin Concerto in G major for violino principale, violin I & II, viola, bass and continuo, a.k.a. RV Anh. 12: • Adagio • Allegro • Adagio • Allegro • Manuscripts: D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVIII:61|7|b • Printed editions: Hérengt & Kimura 2016 • Recordings: cpo 2015

Instrumentation and key of the model for BWV 984 and 595 are unknown. Adaptations: • Concerto in C major for unaccompanied harpsichord, BWV 984, transcribed by Johann Sebastian Bach: • [no tempo indication] • Adagio e affettoso • Allegro assai • Manuscripts: D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 804 (Fascicle 52); D-LEb Peters Ms. 8 (Fascicle 28); D-LEm Poel. mus. Ms. 29 • Printed editions: Naumann 1894 (p. 148) • Organ Concerto in C major, BWV 595, transcribed by Johann Sebastian Bach: • [no tempo indication] (first movement only) • Manuscripts: D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 286 • Printed editions: Naumann 1891 (p. 196) • Concerto in C major for 2 Violins (reconstructed from BWV 595 and 984) • Recordings: Haenssler 2007

Sonata in D major for trumpet, two violins and continuo (attribution uncertain): • Vivace • Largo • Allegro • Adagio • Menuet • Recordings: Edel 1998; Kamprad 1999

• D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 280 at Berlin State Library (BWV 592 and 973–982; D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 280 at Bach Digital website) • D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 286 at Berlin State Library: Fascicle 6 (BWV 595) at Bach Digital website • D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 400a at Berlin State Library (BWV 592; D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 400a at Bach Digital website) • D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 804 at Berlin State Library: Fascicles 31 (BWV 592), 34 (BWV 987), 35 (BWV 983), 52 (BWV 984) and 56 (BWV 977) at Bach Digital website • D-LEb Peters Ms. 8 at Stadtbibliothek Leipzig/Bach Archive: Fascicle 28 (BWV 984) at Bach Digital website • D-LEb Peters Ms. 11 at Stadtbibliothek Leipzig/Bach Archive: (BWV 592; D-LEb Peters Ms. 11 at Bach Digital website) • D-LEm Poel. mus. Ms. 29 at Stadtbibliothek Leipzig (BWV 592a and 983–984; D-LEm Poel. mus. Ms. 29 at Bach Digital website) • D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVII:51|3|9|a at Rostock university library (Concerto for two violins in B-flat major) • D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVII:51|4|1 at Rostock university library (Violin Concerto in D minor) • D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVII:51|4|2 at Rostock university library (Concerto in A minor) • D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVIII:61|7|a at Rostock university library (Violin Concerto in E minor, RV Anh. 11, attributed to Johann Ernst) • D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVIII:61|7|b at Rostock university library (Violin Concerto a 6 in G major, RV Anh. 12, attributed to Johann Ernst) • D-ROu Mus.Saec.XVIII:66|3|9 at Rostock university library (Violin Concerto a 8 in G major) • D-WRz Mus IVf:19 at Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek (Violin Concerto a 8 in G major)

The authorities additionally record the heading Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. His recorded language was German. He was the child of Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Charlotte of Hesse-Homburg.