WTF Bach

Have a look at this. This is Bach beginning a canon in inversion. The follower is a 6th below the leader: (If you can’t see that the shapes are inversions, hold up a mirror — seriously!) Yet here, only a few bars later, the imitation seems to be at a different interval: The follower is no longer a sixth below, but a third. How rare! And going on, something else: (We’re looking at the lower two voi...

Imagine composing an ornate melody, then stretching it out so it moves twice as slow, and somehow when you layer the stretched version onto the original, they match up beautifully: One shape, two different speeds. This is what Bach has done in this canon (but he also made sure that the consequence of both lines also blends into the harmonic implications of the chorale melody, which must also past...

The subject of the last several episodes has been Bach’s canonic variations on a Christmas tune by Martin Luther himself. A major inquiry into this work is its existence in two versions: engraved and handwritten. The published version (for reasons explained in the episode) doesn’t fully solve the canonic lines, as seen here: Notice how the notes of the bottom line don’t continue after the fifth no...

Let’s delve into a third variation from Bach’s 1747 masterpiece, “Some canonic variations on the Christmas song, ‘From Heaven Above’ for the organ with two keyboards and pedal, by J.S. Bach.” Two versions of this piece exist: the ‘fair copy’ and the ‘publication’ ( Stichfassung ), which present the variations in a different order. In this episode, we follow the publication, where the canon at the...

I never knew the authentic version of the world’s most famous canon, having only known arrangements which conceal the fact that the music is indeed a canon in three voices. Here is what the ‘real’ canon looks like: It continues for over 50 bars as a three voice canon at the unison. In my brief survey of this piece, I found one theory that suggests the 9-year-old J.S. Bach was in attendance at the...

Continuing our mini-series exploring Bach’s canonic variations on the Christmas song, ‘Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her’ BWV 769, we listen to the second canon: a canon at the perfect fifth. Here is what the initial shape looks like in the right hand: So the same shape must be imitated down the perfect fifth. It appears like this in the left hand: I briefly mention the difference between ‘tonal’ an...

The first variation in these late variations for organ, is a canon at the octave. The two hands, each on a separate keyboard, play the same shape, one octave apart, while the feet provide the chorale melody. It looks like this: Those are the first three measures of 18 measures. That’s right: the shape is imitated note for note for 18 bars! If you’re having trouble seeing that the two upper lines a...

In this first of several related episodes, we will learn about Bach’s late contrapuntal masterpiece, the Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her , BWV 769. The variations— although certainly not as familiar— should be considered alongside Bach’s other late achievements, the Goldberg Variations , The Art of Fugue , and A Musical Offering. They employ many similar ideas and highlight...

Since I was a child I’ve known the story of Bach pulling out a blade. What really happened? In this short episode, I read the contemporary reports from the Arnstadt Consistory Court, where this famous fisticuffs was first recorded. About halfway through the episode (14 minutes), I’ve given you some “chill” chorales, played over a drone. One of my listeners mentioned they wanted some Bach for doing...

Last week I posted this piece on YouTube : The most intriguing part of studying this piece was the overwhelming amount of differences between the three earliest sources of this work. Here is a list of the sources I reference in the episode , the copyists, and when they were made: The ‘Andreas Bach Book’ (D-LE III.8.4) J. Christoph Bach; copyist, between 1705-1714 P 801 J. Tobias Krebs; copyist, be...

Yes, that recording at the end is none other than Jascha Heifetz with Primrose and Piatigorksy, who apparently recorded three of the sinfonias. The wonderful pianist with that golden sound playing before the string trio arrangement is ( I think! ) Marcelle Meyer recorded sometime around 1948. WTF Bach needs your support! Consider becoming a subscriber. Today’s episode focuses on the ‘black pearl’...

Becoming familiar with Bach’s music is a never-ending process. First, there is the initial reading, which alone can occupy many happy years. What’s remarkable is that with each further reading, you’re astonished by the details you missed before—quite honestly amazed. You ask yourself: Where—or even who —was I during those earlier readings? You begin to measure your growth as a musician against the...

In this episode, we’ll explore Bach’s constant involvement with weddings. Weddings and funerals occupied a weekly place in Bach’s life in Leipzig and we’ll shed light on the various ways in which he was involved musically. [I forgot to credit the last recording in this episode to Rudolph Lutz and the J.S. Bach foundation.] Here are (some of) the beautiful parts which make up the chorales, BWVs 250...

A brief(er) episode for you today: Bach’s first published opus was his six partitas for keyboard. In some of the sources within Bach’s circle, copies retained as a ‘Handexemplar’ include revisions by a scribe we can almost say with certainty is Bach himself. The most consequential of these revisions appears at the end of the third partita, where the second half of the Gigue is re-written with what...

The final performer’s commentary episode for you. This is live commentating (the program notes of the future) on the last of my three simultaneous releases. This album is a bunch of preludes and fugues— some maybe you know, some maybe you don’t. You can stream and individually purchase any track including the performer’s commentary from the third volume below. [More streaming links (including yout...

Johann Adolph Scheibe went down in history for attacking Bach’s “turgid and confused” style. “…from the natural to the artificial, and from the lofty to the obscure ... one wonders at the painful labor of it all, that nevertheless comes to nothing, since it is at variance with reason.” Let’s examine the controversy from the beginning. How To Support This Podcast: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach http...

On March 1, 1749, Bach penned the following into a Stammbuch : Today’s episode covers this canon in depth. What does it mean? How does it sound? Here is a link to the article by scholar, Anatoly Milka. The book, Bach and the meaning of Counterpoint, by David Yearsley is available here . How To Support This Podcast: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach https://venmo.com/wtfbach https://cash.app/$wtfbach o...

Another performer’s commentary episode for you. If you’ve missed out on the second of my three simultaneous releases, you’ll have a chance to listen to it here, with my live commentary. This commentary specifically addresses the issue of the lute in Bach, and the question of ‘lautenwerk’ or ‘lautenwerck’ in Bach’s instrumentation. You can stream and individually purchase any track including the pe...

Thanks for your feedback on the last few episodes. I’ve gathered my listeners enjoy piecing together musical cells in their minds, so today’s episode will bring you more of that. The eight surviving canons, BWVs 1072-1078 (+BWV deest ) were written on small pieces of paper or penned into registry books. Their compact content, usually only a few notes, is then ‘solved:’ copied and transformed to ma...

If you miss those DVDs with the optional director’s commentary, you’re going to enjoy this episode. Each album in my ‘J.S. Bach Complete Solo Keyboard Works’ will be accompanied by this type of work, my commentating as the music plays. You can stream (and individually purchase) any track including the performer’s commentary from the first album here: How To Support This Resource: https://www.paypa...

You know that portrait of Bach holding a little scrap of music? Ever wonder what the piece was? What it sounded like? That piece of paper is a six-voice, triple canon : number thirteen in the fourteen additional canons found on the back of Bach’s personal copy of the Goldberg Variations. (Analysis of that specific canon around 32 min.) We’ve covered nine of these puzzling pieces in three previous...

ALBUMS ON PRESALE TODAY! BUY THE ALBUMS HERE! Volume One: Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws Volume Two: Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w Volume Three: Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb As for the music covered today, we will hear Doubles layered...

Thanks for all your support during The Bach Store! If you’re in NYC on Friday, come to Le Poisson Rouge at 158 Bleecker Street at 7pm. Be sure to mark your calendars: April 24th, 2024, my new albums will be on PRE-sale. It marks the beginning of my most ambitious project to date: a very thorough, if possible, ‘complete’ set of the keyboard works of Bach. I will certainly send another reminder as t...

You read correctly: The Bach Store is back . In Erfurt, Thuringia, the state from where the Bachs hail. I will play for five hours, March 14-28, 12.00-18.00 GMT +1 (7AM-1PM EST.) You can (hopefully) stream the whole run on my youtube. Subscribe HERE . Or go to: www.youtube.com/@wtfbach Here is the latest video I mentioned in the podcast . Bach Store Merchandise is available on request. Send an ema...

This week I’ll be performing some flute chamber music in Santa Barbara, California. I realize I’ve never specifically mentioned Bach’s wonderful flute repertoire on this podcast. We tackle here what I find is the most complex composition in the repertoire: the first movement of the b minor sonata, BWV 1030. Pieces heard: BWV 1030.1 Source P. 1008, early version, harpsichord part. BWV 1030.2 The la...