Concerto for Two Violins transcribed for two alto flutes and ripieno flutes

Concerto for 2 Violins
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
For Two Alto Flutes and Ripieno Flutes
Transcribed and Published by Margaret Lowe
Includes score and parts

Instrumentation:
2 Solo Alto Flutes
2 Alto Flutes – parts are occasionally divisi
Bass Flute
Contrabass Flute

      The Concerto for 2 Violins in d minor is one of J.S. Bach's best known works. It is not known just when it was composed, but it was probably during the years 17171 to 1723, when Bach was employed as Kapellmeister by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, a period during which he also composed the Brandenburg Concertos, and much of his purely instrumental music. 
      Throughout his life, Bach was closely associated with the musical life of principalities, municipalities, church and domestic music-making, composing music for many occasions, and sometimes adapting music already composed by himself or other composers. Bach himself transcribed this Double Concerto for performance on two pianos.
      We now have a whole family of flutes at our disposal, which rivals the violin family in range and versatility, but which lacks the wide repertory of the string family which is at the heart of the symphony orchestra. The present transcription of the Double Concerto follows the example of Bach and his contemporaries in transcribing existing music for other occasions. It is also an attempt to transcribe as nearly as possible the actual notes written by Bach, as in previous transcriptions of Brandenburg Concertos nos. 3 and 6, where the parts were re-scored for those flutes whose range best matched the range of Bach's chosen instruments. The only changes made in this transcription are in the last movement in bars 41-47 and bars 127-133, where the double-stopping of the two solo parts is consigned to the ripieno alto I and II, playing divisi, with the two soloists taking over the ripieno parts.