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.
Fugue in Bb Major (BWV 955) was previously thought to
have been arranged from a work by Johann Christoph
Erselius. More recent analysis by Karl Heller
ascertained that: "The B-flat major fugue, BWV 955, has
hitherto been considered an arrangement by Bach of a
G-major fugue by Johann Christopher Erselius
(ca.1703-72), a hypothesis now disproven by source and
textual studies. The G-major version is actually a
transposition of an early version (BWV 955a) of the
B-flat major fugue; both date from Bach's early years
as a composer" — 'Die Klavierfuge BWV 955: Zur Frage
ihres Autors und ihrer verschiedenen Fassungen', Das
Fruhwerk Johann Sebastian Bachs: Kolloquium
veranstaltet vom Institut fur Musikwissenschaft der
Universitat Rostock, 11.-13. September 1990 (Koln:
Studio, 1995) p.130–141.
Both BWV 955a, 955 discussed (as works in volume 3 of
Schulenberg's 2013 "The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach" -
brief BWV955 analysis and discussion. (Schulenberg
notes that it is not, pace!! Heller's statement,
regarded as a matter quite disproven, but Schulenberg
has no problem with 955 being accepted as part of the
Bach canon - on the one hand "it will appear in the
N[eue]B[ach]A[usgabe] reserved for doubtful clavier
works", on the other, "less well documented works have
been accepted into the Bach canon".
Although originally written for Harpsichord. I created
this Interpretation of the Fugue in Bb Major (BWV 955)
for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC