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The Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor,
BWV
The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2 ...
542, is an organ
prelude and
fugue 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 ...
. It acquired that name to distinguish it from the earlier
Little Fugue in G minor, which is shorter. This piece is not to be confused with the
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, which is also for organ and also sometimes called "the Great".
Bach's biographer
Spitta and some later scholars think that the Fugue was improvised in 1720 during Bach's audition for an organist post at
St. James' Church in Hamburg. Assuming this is correct, the theme or
subject of the Fugue, a Dutch popular tune (called 'Ik ben gegroet van...'), would have been given to Bach for him to demonstrate his talents as an improviser.
It has been suggested by musicologist
Christoph Wolff
Christoph Wolff (born 24 May 1940) is a German musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty sinc ...
that the choice of a Dutch tune was in homage to
Johann Adam Reincken
Johann Adam Reincken (also ''Jan Adams, Jean Adam'', ''Reinken, Reinkinck, Reincke, Reinicke, Reinike''; baptized 10 December 1643 – 24 November 1722) was a Dutch/German organist and composer. He was one of the most important composers of the ...
, the long-serving organist at
St. Catherine's Church, Hamburg, who was born in
the Netherlands
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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, established_title = Before independence
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.
During his 1720 trip to Hamburg Bach is believed to have met Reincken, whose music he had known since his teens.
[Researchers find Bach’s oldest manuscripts](_blank)
2006. Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
.
The Fantasia may have been composed separately during Bach's time in
Köthen (1717–23).
No autograph manuscript of either the Fantasia or the Fugue survives, and no manuscript of the Fantasia survives from the composer's lifetime. It is not clear whether the practice of coupling the Fantasia with the Fugue derives from the composer himself. William H. Bates writes:
There are many variant textual readings in the manuscripts, perhaps most prominently in the final chord of the Fantasia, which is recorded as both G major and G minor. Some manuscripts preserve the fugue in the key of F minor rather than G minor; this
transposition was probably performed in order to make the fugue playable on an organ whose pedals lacked a high D, and may well have been approved or even carried out by the composer himself.
[Bates (2008), p. 29]
Arrangements
The work was transcribed for piano by
Franz Liszt as
S.463. Modern arrangers have orchestrated the work.
References
Bibliography
*
*
Pieter Dirksen, J.S. Bach's Fantasia and Fuga in G Minor, The Organ Yearbook 45 (2016), 133–167.
External links
*
Video recording of the Fantasia in G minor (BWV 542)performed by Robert Pecksmith on the 1969 Grant, Degens and Bradbeer organ of New College Chapel, Oxford
Free download of BWV 542recorded by
James Kibbie on the 1736 Erasmus Bielfeldt organ in St. Wilhadi, Stade, Germany
Scoreof ''"Ik ben gegroet van..."''
{{Authority control
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542
Compositions for organ
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 G minor
Musical improvisation
Articles containing video clips