Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D major, BWV 1050

In the original piece, there are three movements:

• I. Allegro
• II. Affetuoso
• III. Allegro

The piece makes use of a popular chamber music ensemble of the time: flute, violin, and harpsichord. These instruments are used as solo instruments, accompanied by a string orchestra. It is believed that it was written in 1719, to show off a new harpsichord by Michael Mietke which Bach had brought back from Berlin for the Cöthen court. It is also thought that Bach wrote it for a competition at Dresden with the French composer and organist Louis Marchand; in the central movement, Bach uses one of Marchand's themes. Marchand fled before the competition could take place, apparently scared off in the face of Bach's great reputation of virtuosity and improvisation.

The concerto is well suited throughout to showing off the qualities of a fine harpsichord and the virtuosity of its player, but especially in the lengthy solo 'cadenza' to the first movement. It seems almost certain that Bach, considered a great organ and harpsichord virtuoso, was the harpsichord soloist at the premiere. Scholars have seen in this work the origins of the solo keyboard concerto; indeed it is said to be the first-ever example.

An early version, BWV 1050a, is much the same except that most of the harpsichord solo from the first movement is missing; only the fast scale passages are present without the thematic material incorporated into the later version's solo.

The affettuoso is for the solo instruments alone, and the final movement is a fugue.