Johann Friedrich Fasch

Descended from a distinguished family of Lutheran cantors and theologians, Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688?1758) began his musical studies as a choirboy under Johann Kuhnau at the Thomasschule, where Sebastian Bach would eventually spend the remainder of his professional career. Fasch?s musical education eventually led him to the court at Darmstadt, where he studied with Johann Christoph Graupner. Further travels led Fasch to Bayreuth and Greiz, and he accepted a position in Zerbst. Unhappy there, he submitted his credentials for a position in Freiburg, but was turned down. Fasch remained in Zerbst until his death.

Even though he was considered one of the most significant contemporaries of Bach, once the 19th-century Bach revival was under way, Fasch?s music?like that of many of his contemporaries?dropped below the radar. It dwelt in another of those dark and musty corners of music history until the beginning of the 20th century, when the respected musicologist Hugo Riemann?based upon his familiarity with several of Fasch?s orchestral suites?noted that Fasch ?set instrumental music on its feet and displaced fugal writing with modern ?thematic? style.? A gradual arousal of interest in Fasch?s music followed, and it has grown to the extent that there is now an International Fasch Society, which has commissioned a number of scholarly publications and is also preparing critical editions of previously unpublished works.

Fasch?s music was well known outside of the confines of the court where he was employed. Telemann performed a number of Fasch?s cantatas in Hamburg and other works were performed in Prague, Vienna, and Dresden, where the Kapellmeister Johann Georg Pisendel performed many of his concertos. The extensive body of Fasch?s compositions remained in manuscript for many years and since they were widely disseminated, an assessment is difficult. Most of the vocal works?including nine cantata cycles, 14 masses, and four operas?are lost, but much of the extensive corpus of instrumental music survives. There are 86 orchestral suites, 64 concertos, 19 symphonies, and 33 sonatas for three or four instruments.

Although he was just three years younger than J.S. Bach, Johann Friedrich Fasch was a leader in making the transition from late Baroque to early Classical in Germany. Fasch also manages to create a style that marries polyphony to the emerging sonata form in such a way that it defies categorization. The architecture of most of these sonatas is that of the Italian sonata da chiesa, i.e., a four-movement sequence following the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern, but in the Sonata in F for Two Oboes and Bassoon, Fasch appends an additional Allegro as a sort of musical caboose.

Although originally written for Oboe, Recorder, Violin and Continuo, I created this arrangement for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon).