J.S. Bach

Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 944: Warmup and Herculean Feat

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Composed in Weimar, circa 1713, J.S. Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 944 amounts to a warmup, followed by a herculean feat of athleticism. The warmup, for our ears, the players fingers, and the instrument alike, comes with the brief ten-bar Fantasia. Bach notated this opening as chords, with the instruction, “arpeggio.” The player is free to improvise on a harmonic progression which is at once melancholy, mysterious, and sensuous. …

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Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Minor, BWV 853: Tragedy and Catharsis

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The Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in E-flat minor, BWV 853 comes from Book 1 of J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier. Beginning with the purity of C major, the two-volume collection is made up of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. The key of E-flat (or enharmonic D-sharp) was rarely used during the Baroque period. For BWV 853, Bach transposed a previously written D minor fugue into D-sharp minor. …

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Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, “Komm, süsses Kreuz”: Music of Desolation

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The bass aria, Komm, süsses Kreuz (“Come, sweet Cross”), comes near the end of the second part of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, first performed in 1727. Its text speaks of the suffering of Christ in his final days. Arriving in the story’s most desolate moments, the veiled accompaniment of the viola da gamba (often played by the cello in modern performances) hovers as a gloomy and inescapable presence. The …

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The Artistry of Ferruccio Busoni: Historic Recordings from 1922

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Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), who died 100 years ago last July, was a musical renaissance man. The Italian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, writer, and editor has been called “the first truly modern composer.” He is also remembered for numerous enduring transcriptions of the music of J.S. Bach. Busoni associated with such a disparate group of contemporaries as Schoenberg, Sibelius, and Edgard Varèse. His small circle of students included Kurt Weill. The pianist Alfred …

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Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046: Festive Horn Calls

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Festive horn calls ring out from the opening measures of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major. Rousing and raucous, this is joyful music of the hunt. As the Netherlands Bach Society observes, On turning over the impressive title page of the ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos, two hunting horns immediately blare through the rest of the music – calling everyone to gather together! Bach deliberately lets the persistent horns disturb his music. …

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Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001: James Ehnes at Home

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J.S. Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin are technical and musical marvels. They transform the violin, an instrument usually associated with a single melodic line, into a vehicle of dazzling polyphony. The collection begins with the purity and resonance of G minor, a key which is centered on the open fifths of the violin’s lowest two strings. The Adagio which opens the Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV …

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Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005, Largo: Christian Tetzlaff

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When it comes to J.S. Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001-1006), we are never done learning. Once you begin to play and study this timeless, awe-inspiring music, new details reveal themselves continuously, in unending layers. An intrinsic part of the violin repertoire, the collection includes Baroque dances, three fugues, and a monumental chaconne. Bach gave multi-voice counterpoint to an instrument that is primarily associated with single melodic lines. …

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