The instruments used in this piece are listed below. The minimum number of players would have been 7, which would likely have been the number who played the piece originally.

Concertino:

• Flute - The Baroque flute would have been made out of wood, to give a less shrill sound. Performances these days can easily use a modern metallic flute.

• Violin

• Harpsichord - the most common keyboard instrument in the Baroque era. Its mechanism "plucks" the strings rather than hitting them like a piano. It therefore has a very conspicuous, brittle tone quality.

Ripieno:

• Violin

• Viola

• Violincello (or cello for short)

• Double bass

• Harpsichord - the harpsichord has a constant part which provides solo material as well as maintaining the basso continuo. Subsequently you could say it has a double role in this piece.

Usually articulation marks are quite scarce in Baroque music. It was only later that composers started to be more specific about what they wanted. Two pieces of articulation are important to discuss:

• Legato phrase marks - As notated below, a set of three quaver triplets often included a legato mark over the first two, indicating that they should be played smoothly and attached. This is a very delicate way of articulating these quavers which supports the style of the gigue very strongly.

• Detached notes - There are also lots of quaver rhythms which include a quaver rest, as discussed in Tempo, Metre + Rhythm (see notation below). These essentially give the impression of staccato and allow the lightness of the gigue style to be communicated effectively.

There are no dynamic markings on the score. Again, this is quite typical for the Baroque era.

There are contrasts between loud and quiet and these happen largely as a result of how many instruments are playing. In tutti sections the dynamics are inevitably louder and in sections with only the concertino (such as the start of the A section) dynamics are quieter. The result is what is sometimes called terraced dynamics. These dynamics change quite drastically between different sections and rarely feature crescendos or diminuendos.

Again, it's quite common to hear terraced dynamics in Baroque music.