Descended from a distinguished family of Lutheran
cantors and theologians, Johann Friedrich Fasch
(1688?1758) began his musical studies as a choirboy
under Johann Kuhnau at the Thomasschule, where
Sebastian Bach would eventually spend the remainder of
his professional career. Fasch?s musical education
eventually led him to the court at Darmstadt, where he
studied with Johann Christoph Graupner. Further travels
led Fasch to Bayreuth and Greiz, and he accepted a
position in Zerbst. Unhappy there, ...(+)
Descended from a distinguished family of Lutheran
cantors and theologians, Johann Friedrich Fasch
(1688?1758) began his musical studies as a choirboy
under Johann Kuhnau at the Thomasschule, where
Sebastian Bach would eventually spend the remainder of
his professional career. Fasch?s musical education
eventually led him to the court at Darmstadt, where he
studied with Johann Christoph Graupner. Further travels
led Fasch to Bayreuth and Greiz, and he accepted a
position in Zerbst. Unhappy there, he submitted his
credentials for a position in Freiburg, but was turned
down. Fasch remained in Zerbst until his death.
Even though he was considered one of the most
significant contemporaries of Bach, once the
19th-century Bach revival was under way, Fasch?s
music?like that of many of his contemporaries?dropped
below the radar. It dwelt in another of those dark and
musty corners of music history until the beginning of
the 20th century, when the respected musicologist Hugo
Riemann?based upon his familiarity with several of
Fasch?s orchestral suites?noted that Fasch ?set
instrumental music on its feet and displaced fugal
writing with modern ?thematic? style.? A gradual
arousal of interest in Fasch?s music followed, and it
has grown to the extent that there is now an
International Fasch Society, which has commissioned a
number of scholarly publications and is also preparing
critical editions of previously unpublished works.
Fasch?s music was well known outside of the confines of
the court where he was employed. Telemann performed a
number of Fasch?s cantatas in Hamburg and other works
were performed in Prague, Vienna, and Dresden, where
the Kapellmeister Johann Georg Pisendel performed many
of his concertos. The extensive body of Fasch?s
compositions remained in manuscript for many years and
since they were widely disseminated, an assessment is
difficult. Most of the vocal works?including nine
cantata cycles, 14 masses, and four operas?are lost,
but much of the extensive corpus of instrumental music
survives. There are 86 orchestral suites, 64 concertos,
19 symphonies, and 33 sonatas for three or four
instruments.
Although he was just three years younger than J.S.
Bach, Johann Friedrich Fasch was a leader in making the
transition from late Baroque to early Classical in
Germany. Fasch also manages to create a style that
marries polyphony to the emerging sonata form in such a
way that it defies categorization. The architecture of
most of these sonatas is that of the Italian sonata da
chiesa, i.e., a four-movement sequence following the
slow-fast-slow-fast pattern, but in the Sonata in F for
Two Oboes and Bassoon, Fasch appends an additional
Allegro as a sort of musical caboose.
Although originally written for Oboe, Recorder, Violin
and Continuo, I created this arrangement for Woodwind
Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon).
SHEET MUSIC