Songfacts®:

• The Brandenburg Concertos are a collection of six instrumental works written by Johann Sebastian Bach for Christian Ludwig, the margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Ludwig loved music and Bach wrote the pieces for him to gain extra support for his work. However, it appears the margrave never actually liked Bach's Brandenburgs or maybe his orchestra was too small to perform them as he didn't even bother to include them in the catalogue of his music collection and the manuscripts were discovered for sale on Ludwig's death in a job lot.
• All six concertos have something different to offer: No.2 in F contains a high trumpet part, which is meant to be one of the most difficult pieces there is for a trumpeter.
• The third movement of No.2 in F served as the theme song for William F. Buckley, Jr.'s public affairs show Firing Line. The first movement was chosen as the first track on the "golden record," a phonograph record containing a broad sample of Earth's common sounds, languages, and music sent into outer space with the two Voyager probes.
• Paul McCartney got the idea for the trumpet part in the Beatles song "Penny Lane." after watching The New Philharmonia perform No.2 in F on the BBC. The arpeggiated melodies of the Brandenburg concertos were the foundation from which Chicago's trombone player, Jimmy Pankow wrote the US top 10 hit, "Colour My World."