The Prelude & Fugue in G Major (BWV 541) was likely
written during Johann Sebastian Bach's service at
Weimar (1708-1717), most likely in 1712. Sometime after
1740, Bach revised the piece. At one time, J.P.
Kellner, an organist, copied out the work, adding the
first 13 measures of the Andante from Bach's Organ
Sonata No. 4 in E minor as a kind of an intermezzo
between the prelude and fugue. Bach's obsession with
repeated notes and chords in this work seems to be an
attribute of his "Weimar style....(+)
The Prelude & Fugue in G Major (BWV 541) was likely
written during Johann Sebastian Bach's service at
Weimar (1708-1717), most likely in 1712. Sometime after
1740, Bach revised the piece. At one time, J.P.
Kellner, an organist, copied out the work, adding the
first 13 measures of the Andante from Bach's Organ
Sonata No. 4 in E minor as a kind of an intermezzo
between the prelude and fugue. Bach's obsession with
repeated notes and chords in this work seems to be an
attribute of his "Weimar style." Repeated notes are a
salient feature not only of the fugue (a characteristic
associated by some with the north German school), but
of the prelude as well, where the repetition of entire
chords plays a significant role. Repetition to this
degree is somewhat unusual in works of the time, found
in little organ music and almost no harpsichord works.
A graceful passage consisting of a single line
elegantly opens the triple meter prelude, filling in
harmonies and providing no hint of the thicker texture
to come. When the other voices enter, the device of
repetition begins immediately, alternating measures of
repeated chords with the fluid line of the opening. At
times, the chords become very thick, while only the
pedal part maintains the constant sixteenth note
movement. As a motif of six repeated eighth notes moves
from voice to voice, Bach passes through numerous
chromatic alterations of the melodic material. Unlike
some of his later works, which employ repetition to
prepare suspensions, the reiteration of notes and
chords here is for its own sake, creating rhythmic
drive.
The fugue subject is built principally of repeated
notes with little melodic contour. Beyond this and the
key of G major, there is little relationship to the
prelude, for the repeated notes do not grow into
repeated chords. In an unusual move, Bach takes some of
the middle entries of the subject through the tonic
minor, and a Neapolitan cadence near the end is
striking. Although there is only one extended episode,
this and the other, shorter, episodes amount to half of
the fugue. This work is a dense, motivically intense
piece that is more a study in compositional rigor and
harmonic adventurousness than in the presentation of
tuneful material.
PARTITION