Scanning J.S. Bach's catalog of authentic organ
compositions, one finds that there are four fugues to
which no prelude, fantasia, toccata, or other type of
introductory piece has been attached. Two of these
organ fugues are early exercise pieces, composed using
subjects written by other composers (Legrenzi and
Corelli). Removing these leaves just two bona fide
freestanding organ fugues, one of which is the Fugue
for organ in C minor, BWV 575 (the other, BWV 578, one
of Bach's truly famous pieces...(+)
Scanning J.S. Bach's catalog of authentic organ
compositions, one finds that there are four fugues to
which no prelude, fantasia, toccata, or other type of
introductory piece has been attached. Two of these
organ fugues are early exercise pieces, composed using
subjects written by other composers (Legrenzi and
Corelli). Removing these leaves just two bona fide
freestanding organ fugues, one of which is the Fugue
for organ in C minor, BWV 575 (the other, BWV 578, one
of Bach's truly famous pieces, probably dates from the
Arnstadt years, ca.1705). BWV 575 is a contrapuntal
masterwork, taking up one of the most peculiar fugue
subjects anywhere in the repertory and spinning it out
into a 76-bar essay on the undying virtues of the North
German High Baroque.
The four-bar subject of BWV 575 begins with two
wonderfully stumble-footed bursts of 16th notes (one
burst for each of the first two bars), and then,
gaining traction, propels itself through the third and
fourth bars in a more typically winding fashion. For
most of the piece, the pedal bass acts just as any of
the other voices, but it takes up a more traditional
pedal role during the final dozen bars or so of the
piece, during which the strict contrapuntal texture is
completely abandoned in favor of an electrifying
quasi-cadenza; here all four voices are thrust into the
virtuoso limelight.
Although originally composed for Organ, I created this
modern interpretation of the Fugue in C Minor (BWV 575)
for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION