WTF Bach

Listen to the new album here : https://modernclassicalx.lnk.to/BachCompleteKeyboardWorksVol4PartitasPtOne Today I’ve released Volume 4 in my “Complete Keyboard Works” of JSB. This album contains three pieces by the master: Partita no. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825 Partita no. 2 in c minor, BWV 826 Partita no. 3 in a minor, BWV 827 Bach’s Opus One —the six Partitas of Clavier-Übung I —were first issue...

Would you object to the comparison of Messiaen and Borges? I see both 20th century giants deeply steeped in the masters of the past, throughly conversant in the antique, and yet they bring something uniquely modern— magical. Borges’ stories have the ability to stun, to make one wonder, or in the case of the story I read today, elicit tears. After Shakespeare’s Memory , (1983) which I believe is hi...

Yep. I based an entire episode on the pun. We study two works not usually heard in the organ repertoire, the Prelude (Fantasy) BWV 569 and the Prelude with Fugue BWV 551, both in a minor. These are not the best known pieces in the repertoire, but they command our attention—especially when you consider that one of them was written when Bach was just 14 years old. BWV 569 , composed around 1708 when...

The oldest surviving (ca. 1100) German church melody is centered around Easter and the resurrection: Christ ist erstanden . Luther adapted this into Christ lag in Todesbanden . Both texts culminate in a triumphant “Hallelujah!” What kind of music could Bach compose for such a joyous word? In every instance, it demands a distinctly exalted treatment. We discuss the origins of the word Alleluia, and...

Today, Good Friday 2025, marks 300 years since Bach performed the St. John Passion in Leipzig. … but it started like this: But wait, I thought the St. John Passion was: In this episode, beyond outlining the basic revisions between the 1724 and 1725 (and a few other) versions of BWV 245, we’ll study how people heard passion music, the purpose of a passion setting, and how Bach, by changing the open...

The organ held a central role in the life of a baroque keyboardist. Not only was an accomplished harpsichordist or clavichordist comfortable playing with their feet, but the art suggests that the repertoire often called for ad libitum pedal additions. In J.S. Bach’s second collection of chorale prelude for organ, he introduces obligato pedal parts. Below is an image from his Bach’s earliest choral...

A beloved cantata from Bach’s early 20s, the Actus Tragicus anticipates the future of opera more than it foreshadows Bach’s own later cantatas. Albert Schweitzer’s beautiful writing on Bach features heavily in this episode. Here is the tuning video with chorale in question toward the end of the episode: WTF Bach is a listener-supported publication. To receive new episodes, to support the work, con...

The bard— not the brook, but don’t worry, this podcast isn’t going to become an English lesson. Thanks for reading WTF Bach! This post is public so feel free to share it. Here is my reading of Shakespeare’s first publication, Venus and Adonis , a poem that is pure music. If I were to list my favorite lines, I might as well copy out half the poem. Just something that pops into my head would be a li...

UPDATE: One of my astute listeners pointed out that it is in fact Jones’ review of Butler’s work in Music & Letters, and the original work by Butler is this book . Thanks for the correction! Don’t miss the end of this episode where I play three of Bach’s earlier settings of the same tune, BWVs 700, 701, & 738! We finish our study of this late masterpiece by reading some scholarship on the two diff...

Today, as we did in episode 5 of this miniseries, we’ll examine the revisions Bach made from engraving copy to handwritten copy. This is an important view into the composer’s workshop, and unlike clear ameliorations between layers in his other works, the two versions of BWV 769 present a unique challenge in seeking the “best” version. Changes like this (first beat, alto) are minute, yet fascinatin...

Show me a finale as densely packed with thematic material as this one. Here are the five bars — the only five bars — discussed in today’s episode. You might listen while looking at them: Notice the finale comes in two stages, first diminution, then stretto. The signature in the final bar is noteworthy (though it should be mentioned that the letters are an addition by the editor.) And here is a vid...

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...