Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musici...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him
the greatest composer of all time.
The final entry in a catalog of lute pieces that
spanned 35 years (perhaps longer), the Prelude, Fugue
and Allegro in E flat, BWV 998 of J.S. Bach makes plain
how unimportant the modern debate over the
instrumentation of these works (were they composed for
lute, or Lautenwerk, a lute-like keyboard apparatus, or
even just ordinary harpsichord?) would have been to the
composer himself. "For lute or keyboard" is the very
clear indication on the autograph score. The Prelude,
Fugue and Allegro was written sometime during the first
half of the 1740s; it is an imposing and virtuosic
work, the myriad difficulties of which are made none
the easier by its transcription for guitar -- standard
these days save for the precious few Baroque lutenists
who grace modern concert halls and record shelves. The
technical complexities offer a bounty of rich
counterpoint for those who can scale their peaks.
The Prelude is of the same constantly-arpeggiated kind
that we find in the Well-Tempered Clavier (the second
book of which dates from around the same time as this
work). There is just a single pause in the motion: just
before the coda, Bach throws a fermata over a
third-inversion seventh chord, complete with a rich
suspension, that is so enrapturing that only a flurry
of 16th notes can propel the motion forward again.
The Fugue is on a subject in all quarter notes; the
16th-note-oriented episodes have as much of the Baroque
concerto about them as they do fugue. The Allegro is an
uptempo binary-form dance in joyous, vigorous running
16ths.
Although originally written for Lute. I created this
Arrangement of the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in Eb
Major (BWV 998) for Organ (2 Manuals w/o Pedals).
PARTITION