The Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 562 is a
relatively short piece written for the organ by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Bach began the composition during his
time in Weimar, and an unfinished fugue, probably by
Bach, was added in his later life. The piece features a
heavily appoggiatura-laden harmony.
Bach was hired in 1708 by the ruling duke of
Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm Ernst, as an organist and member
of the court orchestra; he was particularly encouraged
to make use of his unique talents w...(+)
The Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 562 is a
relatively short piece written for the organ by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Bach began the composition during his
time in Weimar, and an unfinished fugue, probably by
Bach, was added in his later life. The piece features a
heavily appoggiatura-laden harmony.
Bach was hired in 1708 by the ruling duke of
Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm Ernst, as an organist and member
of the court orchestra; he was particularly encouraged
to make use of his unique talents with the organ.
During his tenure at Weimar his fame as an organist
grew, and many students of the organ visited him to
hear him play and to learn from his technique. The
composer also wrote many of his greatest organ works
during the period, including the Toccata and Fugue in D
minor, BWV 565 and the Prelude and Fugue in E major,
BWV 566. The Fantasia and Fugue in C minor was begun
during this period, as a lone fantasia in the title
key. The fugue was added in 1745, most likely by Bach,
but possibly by one of his students or sons. This piece
is one of a few by Bach with a considerable period
between the composition of its component sections.
The fantasia has a very imposing structure and sound,
the feel of which is created by the piece's one-measure
generative theme. This theme passes between five
contrapuntal voices of the organ, with occasional
movement into new ideas; even the pedal bass is used
for the theme. An interesting feature to the theme is
that it contains many appoggiaturas, which provide the
piece with a slight virtuosic feel; the harmonies
especially contain many such devices
The second movement of the Fantasia and Fugue in C
minor (BWV 562), which was composed in 1747-48 (or
earlier), survives in a fragmentary state. According to
certain views the theme and its countersubject did not
possess enough melodic and contrapuntal potentials and
therefore Bach abandoned the composition altogether.
Others suppose that the movement was originally a
double fugue, the last pages of which got lost. For
that matter, the characteristic proportions of the
surviving section also bear evidence of this fact. The
exposition of the fugue theme is already followed from
bar 22 onwards by a stretto; a similarly concise
solution can be found at the beginning of the Fugue in
E flat major (St Anna) (BWV 552:2).
When Zoltán Göncz started complementing the fragment
in 1990, it became evident that the work must
originally have been a double fugue. At the same time
the piece was a "preliminary study" to an ever greater
challenge, the reconstruction of The Art of Fugue. (The
article "Reconstruction of the Final Contrapunctus of
The Art of Fugue" can be read in English in the
International Journal of Musicology, vol. 5, 1996, pp.
25—93; vol. 6, 1997, pp. 103—119.) In the
retrospective Zoltán found that completing the Fugue
in C minor was easier and more difficult at the same
time. This fugue allows namely to proceed in several
directions whereas the basic scheme of The Art of Fugue
is much more determined.
Because the fugue has remained unfinished, the fantasia
is performed relatively seldom while the fugue
surviving as a torso never, however promising and
grandiose it begins
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_and_Fugue_in_C_
minor,_BWV_562).
I created this transcription of the Fantasia (and
reconstructed Fugue) in C Minor (BWV 562) for Pipe
Organ.
SHEET MUSIC