The ''Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue'' in D minor, , is a work for harpsichord by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

. Bach probably composed it during his time in Köthen from 1717 to 1723. The piece was already regarded as a unique masterpiece during his lifetime. It is now often played on piano.

Sources

An autograph of this work is not known. The musicologist

Walther Siegmund-Schultze Walther Siegmund-Schultze (6 July 1916 – 6 March 1993) was a German musicologist. He was the elder brother of musicologist Hella Brock. Biography Siegmund-Schultze was born in Schweinitz (Elster). In July 1940 he was promoted to Dr. ph ...

pinpoints the work to the "fermenting Köthen works" because of its improvisatory and expressive nature, using all keys.Cristoph Rueger (ed.): "Johann Sebastian Bach" in ''Harenberg Klaviermusikführer''. Harenberg, Dortmund 1984, , pp. 85–86 At least 16 different handwritten copies of the score are extant, including five from Bach's lifetime. The oldest copy is only an early, two-bar shorter variant of the fantasia. It was written by Bach's pupil

Johann Tobias Krebs Johann Tobias Krebs (7 July 1690 – 11 February 1762) was a German organist and composer, today best remembered as the father of Johann Ludwig Krebs, one of Bach's most accomplished pupils. Krebs was born in Heichelheim and went to school i ...

and was created after 1717, close to the time of origin. Two other copies emerged around 1730 that include the fugue; they were possibly written by

Gottfried Grünewald Gottfried Grünewald (also Grunewald; baptised 15 October 1673 – 19 December 1739) was a German operatic bass, harpsichordist, pantaleon virtuoso and composer. Life Grünewald was baptised in Seifhennersdorf near Zittau, on 15 October 1673. ...

or Christoph Graupner. A copy of the double work comes from

Johann Friedrich Agricola Johann Friedrich Agricola (4 January 1720 – 2 December 1774) was a German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio. Biography Agricola was born in Dobitschen, Thu ...

and was written between 1738 and 1740. A

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

from 1750 is extant, and a complete copy by

Johann Nikolaus Forkel Johann Nikolaus Forkel (22 February 1749 – 20 March 1818) was a German musicologist and music theorist, generally regarded as among the founders of modern musicology. His publications include '' Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work ...

(1800). From these two manuscripts come the first printed editions of the piece by

Franz Anton Hoffmeister Franz Anton Hoffmeister (12 May 1754 – 9 February 1812) was an Austrian composer and History of music publishing, music publisher. Early years Franz Anton Hoffmeister was born in Rottenburg am Neckar (Further Austria) on 12 May 1754. At ...

(1802) and

Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl (10 December 1782 – 6 April 1849) was a German Germanist, pedagogue, musicologist and conductor. Life Griepenkerl was born in Peine the son of a preacher, he first attended the school in Peine and changed in ...

(1819). Because of significant differences in details, which can not be traced back to a common basic shape, it is assumed that Bach himself composed the various different versions of the work that are in circulation.

Structure

Because of its characteristics the piece became known as ''Chromatic'', a term that did not originate with Bach.

Fantasia

The chromatic fantasia begins as a

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtu ...

with fast, up and down surging runs in thirty-second notes (demisemiquavers) and broken chords in sixteenth-note (semiquaver) triplets, which are often diminished seventh chords lined up in semitones. The second part is a series of very clear and remotely modulating soft leading chords that are written in the oldest copies as "Arpeggio", i.e. they require a spread chord. The third part is entitled ''Recitative'' and includes a variety of ornamented, enriched, highly expressive melodies. This part contains several

enharmonic equivalent In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...

s. The recitative finishes with passages that are chromatically sinking diminished

seventh chord A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a mi ...

s over above the

pedal point In music, a pedal point (also pedal note, organ point, pedal tone, or pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign (i.e. dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes function ...

on D.

Fugue

The theme of the fugue consists of an ascending half-step line from A to C, here from the third to the fifth of

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B♭ (musical note), B, and C (musical note), C. Its key signature has one Flat ...

to the relative major key of

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is th ...

. \relative c''

Reception and interpretation

The virtuosic and improvisational toccata style of the fantasy, in which both hands alternate rapidly, the expressive, tonally experimental character and the key of D minor put the work alongside the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. Both works are exceptional and therefore particularly popular compositions in Bach's keyboard music. This assessment was shared by Bach's contemporaries. The first biographer of Bach,

, wrote: "I have given much effort to find another piece of this type by Bach. But it was in vain. This fantasy is unique and has never been second to none." 19th-century interpretations of the piece are exemplars of the romantic approach to Bach's works taken during that period. Felix Mendelssohn, the founder of the Bach revival, played this fantasy in February 1840 and 1841 in a series of concerts at the Leipzig

Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The f ...

and delighted the audience. He attributed this effect to the free interpretation of the fantasy's arpeggios. He used the sound effects of the era's grand piano through differentiated dynamics, accentuating high notes and doubling pedal bass notes. This interpretation became the model for the adagio of Mendelssohn's second sonata for cello and Piano (Op. 58), written from 1841 to 1843. This work gives the top notes of the piano arpeggios a chorale melody while the cello plays an extended recitative resembling that of the Chromatic Fantasia and quotes its final passage. This romantic interpretation was formative; many famous pianists and composers, including Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms, used the work as a demonstration of virtuosity and expressiveness in their concert repertoire. It was reprinted in many editions with interpretive notes and scale instructions. Max Reger reworked the piece for the organ. Even since the rise of the historically informed performance movement, it remains one of the most popular keyboard works by Bach. There are romantic interpretations by

Edwin Fischer Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century. Biography Fischer was born in Basel and studied ...

Wilhelm Kempff Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations ...

Samuil Feinberg Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg (russian: Самуи́л Евге́ньевич Фе́йнберг, also Samuel; 26 May 1890, Odessa – 22 October 1962, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist. Biography Born in Odessa, Feinberg ...

and

Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is known particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.Stephen Plaistow"Brendel, Alfred" ' ...

on the grand piano, and by

Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in ...

on the harpsichord. A non-romantic interpretation with surprising accents and without pedalling was presented by

Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; September 25, 1932October 4, 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was one of the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, and was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann ...

and influenced more recent pianists such as András Schiff and

Alexis Weissenberg Alexis Sigismund Weissenberg ( bg, Алексис Сигизмунд Вайсенберг; 26 July 1929 – 8 January 2012) was a Bulgarian-born French pianist. Early life and career Born into a Jewish family in Sofia, Weissenberg began taking ...

. The pianist Agi Jambor combined romantic sonorities and colors with clear voice guidance and emphasized the work's structural relations. Around 1944,

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to wor ...

composed a virtuosic paraphrase of the fantasy as the 99th of his '' 100 Transcendental Studies''.

Transcriptions

The work has been transcribed for solo

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music edu ...

in 1950. There is a transcription for classical guitar by Philip Hii, and

Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary f ...

made two transcriptions for both solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

and piano, which are catalogued as BV B 31 and 38, respectively.

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...

played the opening parts on

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

on his 1981 album ''

Word of Mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

''. A transcription for solo cello was made by cellist

Johann Sebastian Paetsch Johann Sebastian Paetsch (born in Colorado Springs, U.S. on April 11, 1964) is an American cellist and musician. Early musical education Paetsch began his cello studies with his father, Günther Paetsch (who was also a cellist), at the age of ...

in 2015 and published by the Hofmeister Musikverlag in Leipzig.Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister Verlag, FH 3021, 3 Pieces from BWV 565, 903, 1004, Leipzig 2015, (Editor/arranger: Johann Sebastian Paetsch), A transcription for solo clarinet of the fantasy was done by

Stanley Hasty Donald Stanley Hasty(February 21, 1920 - June 22, 2011) was professor emeritus of clarinet at the Eastman School of Music. Hasty joined the Eastman faculty and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1955. Before coming to Rochester, he served as ...

, professor emeritus of University of Rochester's

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

, in 2002.

Literature

Urtext edition *

Rudolf Steglich Rudolf Steglich (18 February 18868 July 1976) was a German musicologist, music editor and academic teacher, who was professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, University of Erlangen from 1930 to 1956. His focus was life and music of Georg ...

(ed.): ''Johann Sebastian Bach: Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge d-moll BWV 903: Urtext without fingerings.'' G. Henle, 2009, *

Ulrich Leisinger Ulrich Leisinger (born 1964 in Baden-Baden) is a German musicologist and director of the research department of the Mozarteum University Salzburg in Salzburg. Life Leisinger received his doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in 1992. The s ...

(ed.): ''Johann Sebastian Bach: Chromatische Fantasie + Fuge (BWV 903/903a). Klavier, Cembalo.'' Wiener Urtext Edition, Schott Verlag, * Heinrich Schenker: ''J.S. Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue: Critical Edition With Commentary.'' Longman Music Series, Schirmer Books 1984, Musical analysis *

Martin Geck Martin Geck (19 March 1936 – 22 November 2019) was a German musicologist. He taught at the Technical University of Dortmund. His publications concerned a number of major composers. Among the composers in whom he specialised was Johann Sebastian ...

(ed.): ''Bach-Interpretationen.'' Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2nd edition, Göttingen 1982, , and 213–215 * Stefan Drees: ''Vom Sprechen der Instrumente: Zur Geschichte des instrumentalen Rezitativs.'' Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ,

References

External links

* *Kerstin Unseld, SWR2
"Die Einzigartige" (One of a Kind)
(In German.) Includes live performance of BWV 903 by pianist

Evgeni Koroliov Evgeni Alexandrovich Koroliov (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Королёв; born 1 October 1949, in Moscow) is a Russian classical pianist. Koroliov studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Since 1978 he has been a teacher at ...

as SWR2's ''Musikstück der Woche'' for April 5–11, 2010. *Bach Digital Work No. at bachdigital.de {{Authority control Fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach Compositions for harpsichord

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

Compositions in D minor