Evidence suggests that J.S. Bach completed and revised
the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor for organ, BWV 542
(the "Great" G minor, as opposed to BWV 578, the
"Little" G minor), as an audition for an organist
position in Hamburg in 1720. Bach didn't get the job,
but, happily enough, posterity did get the piece;
generations of organists since then have considered it
one of their repertoire's crown jewels. The two parts
of BWV 542 (the fantasia -- sometimes titled Prelude
instead -- and the fugue) a...(+)
Evidence suggests that J.S. Bach completed and revised
the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor for organ, BWV 542
(the "Great" G minor, as opposed to BWV 578, the
"Little" G minor), as an audition for an organist
position in Hamburg in 1720. Bach didn't get the job,
but, happily enough, posterity did get the piece;
generations of organists since then have considered it
one of their repertoire's crown jewels. The two parts
of BWV 542 (the fantasia -- sometimes titled Prelude
instead -- and the fugue) are thought to have been
composed separately: the fugue is assigned Bach's
Weimar years (1708-1717) and the fantasia to his time
in Cöthen (1717-1723, but, if the audition theory is
correct, not later than 1720).
The fantasia opens spaciously and in recitative-like
style, but as it unfolds Bach finds room for dense
passages in upper-voice imitation. There are five more
or less balanced sections to this fantasy; intensely
dramatic sections are interwoven with quieter, more
even passages. The wide tonal scope of the fantasia has
been a subject of fascination for two centuries of
musicians: just when some kind of harmonic stability
seems to arrive, Bach shoots off on a mock-improvised
cadenza that jolts the music into a whole new pitch
realm. Thus the fantasia both lives up to its name and
contains quite a bit of contrapuntal rigor, and then,
on top of that, more than one worthy mind has deemed
the fugue to be Bach's ultimate accomplishment in the
field of organ counterpoint. The task of selecting a
king from that noble crowd, however, is not an enviable
one. Though it provides the sense of a stable answer to
the fantasia in its predominantly even sixteenth note
rhythms, it is similarly ambitious harmonically: Bach
makes two revolutions through the entire circle of
fifths. The fugue makes a fine contrast with the later
music of the fantasia while nevertheless seeming of a
piece with it.
Many of Bach’s organ works can only be dated
approximately, but it is different in the case of this
Fantasia and fugue. Bach performed these works in
Hamburg, where the post of organist at St Jacob’s
Church became vacant in 1720. During a recital lasting
over two hours, he demonstrated his skills as an
organist and struck his audience dumb. One member of
that audience was the former organist Reincken, the
eminence grise of the Hamburg music scene, who praised
Bach’s improvisational art as follows: ‘I thought
this skill had died out, but I see it lives on in
you’. Yet Bach was not really planning to take up the
vacant position. Only three years beforehand, he had
accepted a position as Kapellmeister in Köthen
precisely in order to stretch his wings vocally as
well, and to rid himself of the too restrictive label
of ‘organ virtuoso’. However, Bach probably did
have an eye on the post of cantor at St John’s School
in Hamburg, which was shortly to become vacant. In the
end, Telemann was appointed to that post and not long
afterwards Bach was given a similar appointment in
Leipzig.
Whatever the case, Bach confirmed his reputation with
the ambitious scope and structure of his Fantasia and
fugue. The breathtaking fantasia starts off as a
completely free improvisation, but then reveals itself
as a rhetorical argument. Overwhelming, rather ominous
passages are alternated with measured, punctual
annotations. All the registers are opened, from
chromatic successions to all sorts of surprising
harmonic twists and turns, which are finally finished
off by the pedal. The virtuoso fugue that follows
appears to contain an extra tribute to old Reincken,
who was born in Deventer, as its theme is derived from
a cheerful Dutch song, ‘Ik ben gegroet van’, from
the collection Oude en Nieuwe Hollantse Boeren Lieties.
The brisk footwork required by the piece takes it to
its festive climax.
Source: Allmusic
(http://www.allmusic.com/composition/fantasia-and-fugue
-for-organ-in-g-minor-great-bwv-542-bc-j42-57-67-mc0002
358946) and AllOfBach
(http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-542/).
Although originally composed for Pipe Organ, I created
this arrangement of the Fantasia & Fugue in G Minor
(BWV 542 for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC