Bach's Violin Concerto in E major is wrongly considered his second. Firstly, the two surviving violin concertos represent only a fraction of what he actually composed in this genre. Secondly, the A minor concerto is undoubtedly the later one; its modern style suggests it could not have been composed in Leipzig before 1730. The E major concerto, on the other hand, is a typical work from Bach's time in Köthen (1717-1723), when he served as Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. The first movement contains features of Vivaldi's style in an almost exemplary fashion: an orchestral prelude that recurs and is varied several times, a so-called ritornello, with a specific harmonic structure; clear triadic melodies and rushing sequences; and a figurative solo part. Unlike Vivaldi, however, Bach's solo voice and orchestra are subtly interwoven. Furthermore, the triadic theme is consistently developed – over dense, harmonically rich middle voices that come to the fore particularly in the middle section. (The movement is in the da capo form of an operatic aria.)

The second movement is a large-scale passacaglia. The high strings and the solo violin develop variations in dialogue over the theme, which is initially heard softly in the basses. The form is handled so freely that it gives the soloist opportunity for atmospheric episodes before the theme returns. The finale is unusually simple for Bach: a straightforward rondo whose energetic theme returns unchanged, while the solo episodes become increasingly virtuosic.