Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist,
harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and
secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo
instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque
period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.
Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched
the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal
technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and
motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms,
forms and textures from abroad, p...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist,
harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and
secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo
instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque
period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.
Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched
the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal
technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and
motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms,
forms and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy
and France.
The manuscripts that preserved the Fugue in A Minor
(BWV 947) are lost, and it is known only from
nineteenth-century editions. It is more homophonic than
the other fugues examined here; it has a regular
countersubject, but the last few statements of the
subject are accompanied simply by chords, and the
episodes consist of banal figuration with equally
simple accompaniment. The composer was competent but
unimaginative, incorporating two almost verbatim
repetitions, something never found in a well-attributed
Bach fugue (mm. 48b-53 II 54-8 and 72-75a = 76a-80). In
fact hardly anything in the piece resembles music known
to be by Bach. One of the few points of contact is the
subject, whose repeated notes and simple conjunct
motion recall the opening movement of the organ
Fantasia in G, BWV 571. That work's authorship has also
been questioned, but it has a much more respectable
source situation, and its almost absurdly simple
thematic material and counterpoint seem a deliberate
ploy, reflecting its peculiar and rather appealing
combination of fugue and ritornello-form elements." The
most attractive aspect of BWV 947 is its neatness,
evident in the immediate repetitions of simple motives
and the regular two-measure intervals between entries
in the two main expositions (mm. 1-8 and 33-40). This
is not characteristic even of Bach's earliest pieces,
and BWV 947 is almost certainly not his work.
Source: Edition by Griepenkerl (Leipzig, 1847). Modern
editions: BG 36; Dadelsen and Ronnau (1970); NBA
V/12.
Although originally written for Harpsichord. I created
this Interpretation of the Fugue in A Minor (BWV 947)
for Double-Reed Quartet (2 Oboes, English Horn &
Bassoon).
PARTITION