In this fugal piece, Bach melds new musical techniques
with old and joins north to south. Around 1715, Bach
copied out Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali, a canzona
collection published in 1635. Frescobaldi's model was a
series of vigorous fugal sections, in contrasting
rhythms and tempos but using related themes, separated
by chordal adagios. Bach set out to put his own mark on
this style of canzona, going so far as to devise a
theme closely related to the bass line of Frescobaldi's
fourth canzona. T...(+)
In this fugal piece, Bach melds new musical techniques
with old and joins north to south. Around 1715, Bach
copied out Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali, a canzona
collection published in 1635. Frescobaldi's model was a
series of vigorous fugal sections, in contrasting
rhythms and tempos but using related themes, separated
by chordal adagios. Bach set out to put his own mark on
this style of canzona, going so far as to devise a
theme closely related to the bass line of Frescobaldi's
fourth canzona. The opening theme is slow, dark, and
mysterious, very gradually falling down the scale
despite several efforts to lift itself up, especially
in the opening notes. This three-voice fugue is in 4/4;
after a transition of a few chords -- very much in the
manner of Frescobaldi -- Bach fugues very similar
material in 3/4 at a faster tempo. Bach uses a
countermelody that employs a chromatically descending
fourth; this was old news by the beginning of the
eighteenth century, but by turning it into a constant,
chromatic undertow, Bach gives what was then a very
modern coloration to fugues that are otherwise
following austere and archaic harmonic patterns. Thus,
he infuses an old Italian style with a new German
sensibility.
Although originally written for Organ, I created this
modern interpretation of the Canzona in D Minor (BWV
588) for Brass Quartet (Bb Trumpet, Fludelhorn, French
Horn & F Tuba).
SHEET MUSIC