structural:expansion
Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048

Title on autograph score: Concerto 3 à tre Violini, tre Viole, è tre Violoncelli col Basso per il Cembalo.

Instrumentation: three violins, three violas, three cellos, and harpsichord (as basso continuo)

Duration: about 10 minutes

The second movement consists of a single measure with the two chords that make up a ' Phrygian half cadence ' and although there is no direct evidence to support it, it is likely that these chords were meant to surround or follow a cadenza improvised by the harpsichord or a solo violin player. Modern performance approaches range from simply playing the cadence with minimal ornamentation (treating it as a sort of "musical semicolon"), to cadenzas varying in length from under a minute to over two minutes. Occasionally, other slow movements from Bach pieces, such as the Largo from the Sonata for Violin and Continuo in G, BWV 1021 and the Largo from the Sonata for Violin and Obbligato Harpsichord in G major, BWV 1019, are substituted for the second movement as they contain an identical 'Phrygian cadence' as the closing chords.

The outer movements use the ritornello form found in many instrumental and vocal works of the time. The first movement can also be found in reworked form as the sinfonia of the cantata Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174, with the addition of three oboes and two horns.

This concerto is the shortest of the six.