Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musici...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him
the greatest composer of all time.
The Presto in D Minor (BWV 970) is derived from an
early work of W. E Bach, one of several hand-crossing
pieces apparently inspired by the Tempo di Menuetto in
Partita no. 5." The original Presto was revised and
expanded by the composer to become the second of a pair
of minuets in G minor (F. 25). The present version is
an apparently spurious adaptation by someone who had
access only to the early version, preserved in a copy
by C. P. E. Bach. Although clearly not by J. S. Bach,
BWV 970 illustrates how his invention of a particular
type of keyboard figuration continued to inspire
younger players later in the century. The crossed-hands
figuration creates cross-rhythms against the beat
(e.g., in mm. 7-10). This goes far beyond the mild
hemiolas in the movement from the Partitas, recalling
other keyboard works of Friedemann (e.g., the E-minor
Fantasia F. 21, mm. 66ff.).
PARTITION