Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685–1750) musical heritage is unique. His organ works are a major part of it. His uniqueness is manifest in the great range and depths of all his creative ideas; in the ingenious ways he explores new techniques for composition; in the uninhibited immediacy with which he conveys his musical thought processes and in his truly universal approach; as also, in the exquisite appreciation and acute sensibility he brings to the nature of each instrument and the way the intonation of each has of itself something unique do contribute.
Bach was endowed with a truly boundless imagination: there is, as just one example, the amazing ease with which he translates music for the violin into the language of the keyboard and vice versa without ever losing any of the original character or impetus of the music itself. In fact, Bach’s organ Toccatas, Sonatas and Concertos are all, in their own individual ways, associated with instrumental genres, whether they be chamber or orchestral ones: so, whereas in the Toccatas Bach made very free use of instrumental techniques, he came quite literally to rely on them in his Sonatas and Concertos.
Apparently Bach himself decided to collect his Six Sonatas (BWV 525–530) into a single volume and probably also had a didactic purpose in mind. Two sources for this exist: his autograph on the actual original, as well as some editing by him found on a copy made by his son, Wilhelm Friedemann (1710–1784) and his second wife, Anna Magdalena (1701–1760).
The Six Sonatas were composed from about 1710 to 1730. This extended period of time can perhaps best be explained by the fact that various parts of the Sonatas had already made earlier appearances as separate pieces or had been used by Bach in works written for other instruments: thus we find the first part of the D minor Sonata (BWV 527) had previously been written as an instrumental piece and the first part of the E minor Sonata (BWV 527) had featured as an orchestral episode in the Cantata Die Himmel Erzählen Die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 (Heaven preaches the glory of God). The writing these Sonatas for the organ Bach tended, on the whole, to adhere to the principles underlying the composition of instrumental ensembles. This of course brought about that utmost degree of virtuosity which inheres in Bach’s compositions: the ornate and whimsical lines of each voice, so freely performed by each soloist in the trio-sonata ensemble, were to become the test of the technical skill and musical subtlety, the style and taste of just one single performer at the organ.
The Organ Concertos by Bach are a special component of his creative output: they are largely accounted for by his regular exposure to the influence of Italian music while in service at the ducal court of Weimar (1708–1717). His cousin, the composer and organist Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748) was organist at the Weimar Town Church at that time, so Bach was also influenced by easy access to his cousin’s primary work, that of rearranging orchestral Concerts for the organ. Crown Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar (1696–1715) was himself very gifted musically and in his short life composed some works which Bach then processed to become his Concertos, BWV 592 and BWV 595. It is however his transcriptions of Vivaldi’s Concertos which take pride of place. He studied these with profound care and in great detail and it is interesting to note that he chose to re-work one of the biggest of Vivaldi’s works, the quite unusual D major Concerto for violin and orchestra known as the Grand Moghul (Il Grosso Mogul, RV 208). As Vivaldi lived in Venice for most of his life, and so was close to that city’s trade and cultural ties with the East, this Concerto had chimed into Europe’s burgeoning interest in all things oriental. It is not difficult therefore to imagine the great impact the Red Priest’s bold and innovative harmonic techniques will have had on Bach’s writing, and especially so in what was to become his own Concerto, the Transcription (of it) in C major, BWV 594. Also in this CD is the Fantasy in G major, BWV 571, which is concerto-like both in form and spirit but has at times been disputed as Bach’s work. The material on which this is based can also be found here.
While on the subject of transcriptions we should note that Bach had also transcribed, for the harpsichord, 16 Concertos by composers such as Vivaldi, Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello, Telemann and the aforementioned Prince Ernst. It was, however, his organ versions which were to have a profound effect on the way organ music would develop: the scale and polyphonic possibilities of the instrument made it very suitable for adapting orchestral material. Although it was not until the nineteenth century, that this potential of the instrument became a key concept in the evolution of the organ, certain prerequisites for this were already in play in Bach’s work and time. Thus, his Toccata in C major, BWV 564, fits just exactly into the time of his exposure to Italian music: it is composed of three parts, the second of which, the Adagio, emulates the slow part of instrumental concertos in every respect.
Toccatas and Toccatas and Fugues were traditionally treated as free forms, but they became ever more varied in Bach’s creative mind, and almost all contain elements which indicate the influence of instrumental music. The Toccata which is also known as Prelude and Fugue in E major, BWV 566 (circa 1707), is perhaps an exception to all this. Created during Bach’s early period it still conforms to the traditions of the outgoing North German school, at the same time, the play of dramatic principles in it and the tonal segregation of three of its four sections, clearly demonstrates the move from the old genre into a form where each part is expressive of a newly acquired independence. The longest sections of this Toccata had come to exhaust the limited potential of this theme but fortunately, as he then turned to repetition and fast tempos, this also provided a sense of continuous rhythmic ostinato: and this, in fact, was to become the essential expressive feature of Bach’s Toccata style. He would also come to discover in the concertos of Italian composers a technique, which converged with his own use of ostinato: that of creating the fast movements with their virtuosic effect. He also imbibed from the Italians their harmonic sophistication.
The Toccata in D minor, BWV 565, is of particular interest with regard to the effect of instrumental music on Bach’s composition. As it is unlikely to have been written before 1708, doubts have been raised about its attribution to Bach: it is stylistically not at all typical of Bach’s way of composing for the organ. An explanation might be that this extremely popular organ piece is actually the transcription of an unknown violin piece. However, the viability of this so-called “source” and whether it was a composition by Bach or someone else is difficult to establish. It is very unlike Bach’s other works, but one thing is certain: its definite “organicity”, by which I mean that it is ideally fitted for performance on the organ, Bach’s favourite instrument.
Two Toccata and Fugues (“polyphonic cycles” is the usual term for this combination), the F major, BWV 540 (circa 1726), and the D minor, BWV 538 (the Dorian somewhere between 1716 and 1730!), are very alike in concept. Both Toccatas give us Bach’s “stylus concertato”, the progressive and very brightest virtuosic style introduced by him into organ music.
It is appropriate to mention here that the Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 541, and the Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, were in fact written in a similar vein. Unlike the Toccatas, however, Bach’s fugues persisted with the older polyphonic style related to the era of strict counterpoint. What becomes more pronounced in these fugues is the introduction of new dramatic principles which, as they developed, give us what we now recognize and value as the fully formed and mature style of Bach’s genius.
Konstantin Volostnov
