WTF Bach

Evan Shinners
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J.S. Bach explained — music analysis, Baroque history, counterpoint and performance practice. A classical music podcast for listeners who want to understand what they're hearing. Weekly analysis of Bach's music: Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, St. Matthew Passion and more. Classical music education for all levels. wtfbach.substack.com

  1. قبل يوم واحد

    140: PASSACALIA

    Bachian folklore claims Bach used to disguise himself and wander into random churches to play the organ. After a few minutes the warden was frightened it was either the devil himself or Johann Sebastian Bach. I imagine this piece would have given such an impression. Pedal Shoes Anyone? The Passacaglia BWV 582 appears in the Andreas Bach Book upside down. Its title is in all capitals, spelled like the title of this episode. (Curiously, Buxtehude’s Passacaglia in D Minor BuxWV 16 also appears in all capitals, spelled the same— but it is not upside down.) Have a look: If we rotate the page and zoom in, we see the famous opening bars, played with only the feet: On this theme, Bach pens 20 variations, culminating in a brilliant fugue. The fugue has two countersubjects. Until I made this episode I hadn’t considered the Trinity as a possible vision for the fugue (the nature of countersubjects often demands that they move at different speeds to the theme) but it may be a helpful image: I went long on this episode, so I wasn’t able to feature a full recording of this, I’ll be back in a few days to feature Paul Jacobs. In the meanwhile, here is Ton Koopman’s recording with a score: We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at WTFBach.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! TRANSCRIPT: Hi everyone evan here thanks for tuning in just a quicker episode today or maybe it will be as long but certainly more spontaneous the few days I usually prepare for the podcast researching and writing the show I will now be busy preparing for and playing my first organ concert. I’m quite excited about that. I wrote about this experience at length and I want to share that piece with you. I’m not sure if I’m going to read it aloud on the podcast, however, as it’s a personal essay. In fact, it’s so personal I’ve really been on the fence about whether I should share it or not since I admit some things about myself. Fears, doubts, hesitation. I really don’t hold back. So anyhow, if you’re listening to this podcast without being subscribed to the Substack, you might miss this. But if you follow the links in the episode description, you will be notified when I publish that essay about playing an organ concert, probably the first week of August or so. Thanks, meanwhile, to all my listeners who write me, who offer their insights or their curiosities. Thanks for those of you who take out a paid subscription on Substack. This support means I don’t have to take that one gig that pays, but I really don’t want to play it because it eats away at my soul. Instead, I can focus on what I love about this gig, which is sharing with people what I love about music. Thanks for the support. So a piece I love, a piece that floored me the first time I heard it, this recital, this organ concert ends with that piece, The Mighty Passacaglia and Fugue BWB 582. It’s about time we discussed this piece on the show. No, this is a piece that if you’re into Bach... You haven’t missed this. If you haven’t heard this piece before, take note of where you’re sitting or where you’re standing or maybe you’re running listening to this podcast. Maybe you’re that one listener of mine who rides a tractor while listening to the podcast. Remember where you are because this is the type of piece that you remember where you were the first time you heard it. So let’s go. It’s an early masterpiece, the Passacaglia. In my opinion, the great triumph of Bach’s youth may be this very piece. It comes down to us in a manuscript in the so-called Andreas Bach book, one of the two major collections of keyboard music that gives us remarkable insight into Bach’s youthful compositions. This is a pre-Weimar work. The bulk, I suppose it’s safe to say, or at least a major creative burst of organ compositions happened in Weimar. This precedes that. This is the same period that we’re discussing in these cantatas. 1707 Bach is 22 years old. And if you look into the manuscript, it appears upside down. It’s quite a thrill to flip through the Andreas Bach book and suddenly you wouldn’t even notice if you weren’t really paying close attention to what is upside down. But yes, this Passacaglia... The whole piece is upside down, but it’s not like the pages were sewn in upside down or anything like that. The scribe, Bach’s brother, he turns the page and he flips the whole manuscript 180 degrees in order to pen in the pascalia. Why? Hmm, I assume it has to do with page turns. The idea that this piece is so special that his brother turned the manuscript is probably a modern idea. Anyhow, what is a pascalia? Well, pascalia means, etymologically, to walk the street, to pass the calle, signor. The other form we’re familiar with on this show, the chaconne. We just heard Bach’s first cantata, which ends with the chaconne. These forms, pascalia, chaconne, are very similar. In fact, so similar by the time the Baroque composers inherited these forms, they’re virtually indistinguishable. Pascalia, chaconne, these are pieces with repeated bass lines with bass lines and harmonies that happen over and over and over like a set of variations frescobaldi is the one who took these forms from possibly what distinguishable forms they were and changed them into the form we know which is essentially a piece that starts slow then gets faster and faster in a series of variations so let’s pass the calle with the 22 year old Bach I’ll be switching between two sounds today. One that sounds like a real organ, this one. This is 466, so it’s like the organ that Bach would have had in Mülhausen. A half-step higher to our ears. This sounds like C-sharp minor to our modern ears. It is, in fact, C minor on the keyboard. And this one here... I also apologize if this... This episode is a bit more free than usual since I’m not taking too much time to edit it but this one here which is the electronic one sounding in C minor just to give you a sense of this piece in as many different opportunities as we can hear it so we are walking this street and we begin walking in the pedals like this and this is the melody this is the theme this is the glue that holds everything together this here And that note there is the lowest note of the pedalboard, the lowest note of the organ, unless it’s one of those rare organs in tyringia that has a low B on pretty much any organ you’ll see today. This is the leftmost note of the pedalboard. The biggest pipe would be reserved for that. So I’ll play that melody again in the hands so you can hear it a bit higher. Bach will make 20 variations on this. 20 variations on this. So let’s go through them slowly. Feet alone. One of the greatest openings. Just play the melody with your feet. And then he brings in the hands. Here we go. that’s variation one you start to notice all these really subtle things here so initially there’s three voices and the bottom one always goes down first so so we hear this bottom one descending but then just one time the middle voice goes down first but then back to the bottom voice And you hear that tuning, that sixth tone tuning. So with the G in the bass, you get this lovely dissonance. Goodness. How marvelous is that to hear this pain resolve into consonants? Just a little variation there, this Now, that’s variation 1. Variation 2 starts out quite similarly. The exact same way as variation 1. But then, immediately, we hit this beautiful chord. This E flat, E flat major 7th chord. The hands are getting lower and lower. That’s variation two. Now, out of variation two comes, naturally, variation three, and it comes out of these low depths, and we have this beautiful counterpoint. I will play without the pelety line, without the pelety, without the petaline. So that’s the counterpoint there in Variation 3. Why don’t I play that so you can hear that even more clearly. So it’s Starts like a cannon, in fact. Is imitated in the middle voice. And in the bottom voice. So we have this three-part cannon. And the top voice so expressive is in the top voice. I just love this And this at the end. Not good enough. Twice. Still not enough. Three times. Gorgeous. And in this final scale here, he adds a fourth voice, so no longer three voices but one, two, three, four. So I will add the pedal line here so you can hear that third variation now with the pedals. Gorgeous. Let’s go back to the acoustic organ. And I might have to slow this down again as the piece is speeding up. And speeding up indeed we get our first 16th note so this 16th notes from this smooth 8th Counterpoint to this. With a bass. so far the feet have done nothing but play this over and over again all the way through that was variation four but now we have something different in variation five suddenly the feet stop playing this line and we have this counterpoint these broken octaves going from top to bottom This piece is getting quite fast. I do have to tell myself when I begin this piece, don’t start fast because the music itself gets faster and faster. So if you start fast, you are looking at quite an enthusiastic finish. Anyhow, these lines in the manuals in the hands, but the feet are dancing. Beep-bo. so from slow moving quarter notes and half notes to quicker music but still struggling to get momentum we get the momentum It’s steadily mounting, and then we get sixteenths. And now our feet begin to get animated. Now on variation six, at last, sixteenth notes unbroken. And this is just a beautiful stretch of music. I will play it here without the pedals so you can hear... But it goes seamlessly for the next two variations. So yeah, in fact, I will play variation six, seven, eight in this sound here. And we’ll marvel at the counterpoint slowly. Here’s variation s

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  2. ٣٠ يونيو

    139: Bach's Second (or Third) Cantata

    At just 22 years old, Bach set the immortal words of David, ‘Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord.’ From the opening bars, we see depths, cries: The second and fourth movements already show Bach’s interest in using chorale melodies in his cantatas. To the Psalm text, Bach adds a 1588 Hymn by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, asking for mercy, Erbarm dich mein. How lucky we are to see seeds of the Matthew Passion planted as early as 1707! The finale uses a fugue with a countersubject to paint one single line of text: And he will redeem Israel is painted with lively 16th notes, joyful even, while, from all his sins appears as a rising chromatic line. Bach, with a fugue, realizes theology: I forgot to mention in the episode: The fugue in the last movement was arranged as a fugue for organ in g minor, BWV 131a. The attribution to Bach has been contested, but it nevertheless makes for a wonderful fugue playable by one person. When I was making my own electric rendition of the fugue, I was struck by how similar parts are to the organ fugues in c minor, BWV 537, a very late work, but also the youthful BWV 551, both of which were covered on this show. I like this recording a lot, have a listen! Wow! That’s Fabulous. Rudolph Lutz’ performanceMasaaki Suzuki’s recording We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at WTFBach.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! Concepts Covered: Bach's Cantata BWV 131, "Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir," composed in 1707 when the composer was just 22 years old in Mülhausen, organist at St. Blasius Church, stands as a remarkable setting of Psalm 130 for bassoon, oboe, strings, and continuo. This sacred cantata integrates the 1588 Lutheran hymn text by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, "Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut," demonstrating Bach's early mastery of chorale melody integration in cantata structure. The fugal finale translates theological meaning through musical architecture. The cantata's closing movement exists in an organ arrangement (BWV 131a.) N.B. the dedication to Dr. Georg Christian Eilmar, clergyman at St. Mary's Church. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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  3. ٢٣ يونيو

    138: Bach's Very First Cantata

    — Who is Doctor Conrad Meckbach, and what is he doing in the middle of cantata 150?! Using clues from a clever acrostic spread throughout the text, scholars have securely dated this cantata to Bach’s years in Arnstadt. Penitential in theme, it would have been performed during Lent, 1707. It is now considered Bach’s earliest cantata. You Oughta Cantata! The finale, an early chaconne, (as I forgot to mention in the episode!) served as Brahms’ inspiration for his own chaconne in the last movement of his last symphony. Brahms was one of the editors of the Bach-Gesellschaft when this cantata was first published, so here we see the remarkable moment where the 22 year-old Bach inspires the 52 year-old Brahms. Note the similarities in shape, the flute line in particular: Bach’s early cantatas are full of sudden tempo changes. These cantatas are Wagner’s harbingers much more than the later models. The text wholly dictates the mood— even the shapes of the fugue subjects— the choir, unlike in the later cantatas, drives the drama through the majority of movements. This page, for example, looks typical of the early style: The beginning of the 4th movement particularly beautiful. The words ‘lead me’ are painted with a rising scale passing through each part, one section leading the next: See the acrostic (Doktor Conrad Meckbach) via Hans Joachim Schulze’s work:https://bjb.publia.org/bjb/article/view/2270/2196 Ton Koopman’s recording:Masaaki Suzuki’s recording: BWV? Bach Would Vouch! We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at WTFBach.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! Concepts Covered: BWV 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, For You, Lord, I Long, as Bach’s first cantata, the acrostic found in Hans Joachim Schulze’s work: Who was Doktor Conrad Meckbach, and what is he doing in the middle of an early Bach cantata? Arnstadt vs. Mülhausen. Bach’s tone painting in his early years, the text driving the fugal shapes. We discuss form to Early Bach, how Bach’s early years rely on a freedom of form, whereas later in his life he narrows the focus on form— quite the opposite of the trend of most artists in history. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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  4. Inner Monologue: A Classical Musician's Thoughts at a Party

    ١٦ يونيو

    Inner Monologue: A Classical Musician's Thoughts at a Party

    Am I the only one who hates when people ask what I ‘do?’ Composed first as a dialogue, I decided to make this more stream of consciousness, as today is Bloomsday (though this is not the least bit Joycean.) With which Evan will you sympathize? I imagine many of my colleagues have experienced similar thoughts… or am I the worst…?Are musicians, ‘artists?’ Or perhaps, are artists that make music, musicians?Is taste merely a matter of class? Where does preference stop and ‘snobbery’ begin? Do you agree with Pierre Bourdieu’s judgment of taste?Do you like Sibelius? Spread Your Fingers: Yeah.Evan.Likewise.What I…? Oh what I do… Right, well, if you ask me what I do, I’m going to tell you: I breathe, I walk, I sit, I sleep, just like you! Just like you. What I do. I might venture that I’m an inventor, or no longer need to work, because, right out of university, you see, I came up with a really clever patent for trampolines that has prevented the paralysis of hundreds of bouncing children— if not thousands. Yes, yes, every month, every month checks. …for all the new trampolines in the world that have my… device somewhere on the side of the, trampo—Yes, it is odd being rich from trampolines. But, I’ll take what I can get. That’s a good line, ‘odd being rich from trampolines.’ I’m also a professor of 18th century German religion at an online University in …sssSingapore!Singapore? You ask. Yes, yes, Singapore.Do you, lecture online, what with the time change and all that?Yes, yes, with the, with the time change. Truth hurts: I play the piano and harpsichord and organ. You’ll ask, ‘Is that all you do.’ Is that all I do. Is that all I do. Let’s say I were the 17th best flamenco dancer in the world, but I had to supplement this with bus driving. ‘Hey! There’s Evan the bus driver’ not ‘Hey, there’s Evan, the 17th best flamenco dancer in the world.’ You might consider me a fairly good dancer, best dancer in the village even— but I’d still be, ‘Hey, there goes Evan the bus driver.’ But if suddenly, suddenly, flamenco paid well enough where I could stop driving the bus,‘Hey! There’s Evan the flamenco dancer.’ I wouldn’t have gotten any better or worse at dancing the whole time. I hate these parties where people ask you what you do. I want parties where that’s not allowed, where you lead with, what is your favorite color? The no small talk party. You guys going to the no small talk party? It’s actually going to be enjoyable. Somewhat vibrant green bordering on blueish… what’s yours? Oh did you meet Sheila? She also likes the greenish blues! What’s your main fault? Hey Dave, nice to meet you, what’s your main fault. You ever cheated on someone, Dave? Who is your favorite heroine in fiction? Yes, that’s all I do. All I do is play the piano. Oh, it must be so nice to be able to make a living with your passion. I hate it when people say that. Passion. Overused word. Yes, it is. It’s a good life. I’m healthy I’m happy. I am healthy and I am happy. What did that guy say on Instragram? ‘every day, wake up, sip lemon stare into the sun and say, today is going to be a great day, today is going to be a great day…’ Yes, I should say this to myself more often. I am grateful. But sometimes— sometimes!— I wonder if I had given it all up to be the snowplow man, I wouldn’t have to remind myself to remind myself to be grateful. Just— pkcchhhh— plow the roads, up at at ‘em before even the well-employed! Thermos full of coffee, heater blasting, 20 below out, but I’m in a T-Shirt in here… pkchhhhh— plow the snow, plow the roads— what’s on the radio? Not my colleagues and thank god for that. Who’s got time to remind themselves to be grateful now? Snowplow man! Honk Honk! Do you have any idea what it’s like to not be accountable to anybody but yourself, to make your own deadlines, to create your own goals, make your own structure? If suddenly people woke up and had to create their own work, no one would get out of bed! When robots replace everything, no one will know what to do, but I’ll carry on exactly as I always have. I got fugues to learn man! Let the robot sweep my house, do my laundry, but unless the robot’s gonna write in useful fingering, I’m busy! No one will ever pay to hear robot pianists. Oh …my god. Robot Pianists. These parties. These parties. This vapid socializing! Look, if 95% percent of success is showing up, I’ll take 5% of my potential fame, thank you— You’re a pianist? Oh, I heard this fantastic pianist play the most incredible Schumann — or was it Schubert…’ Was it me? Oh, wasn’t me?! As if they were any good, I wouldn’t be overcome with jealousy, and if they were mediocre, I wouldn’t abhor them for destroying our profession with mediocrity! Don’t talk to a musician about musicians. Unless you’re drinking buddies with Leo van Doeselaar, I have no interest whatsoever in your anecdotes. But shouldn’t I be glad to speak to someone who goes to the symphony— who even goes to the symphony? I should! I’m not! Last thing you do when you meet a working actor is talk about all the movies you’ve seen. Wasn’t Brad Pitt great?! Get a life. This thinly disguised sacred— sacred humility placed upon us by none other than Beethoven, of course, and the fact that we may no longer enjoy music for the reasons we once fell in love with it… likely a classical musician. You guessed it. I must look it. Over qualified. Underpaid. Bitter. Do I have the posture of a classical musician? You bet. And then, I don’t know what’s worse, ‘do you like Sibelius? I used to take music lessons as a kid I never learned how to read do you ever listen to Eric Clapton?’ Did you know that actually Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney don’t know how to read music’ Well it’s about f***** time they did! If they’re such geniuses, have ‘em solve a treble clef. Doesn’t read music. This kills me. It’s like talking about your favorite author who doesn’t read. No really, he doesn’t know how to read! He just talks into a microphone!And you enjoy that?Yes, yes, now would be a bad time to mention your nephew is a DJ. Is there a defibrillator nearby, because I’m going to need to revive the part of me that just died. Also a musician. Also! a musician. What because he makes sound? There, did you count that glass that just fell off the table a musician, also a musician? I’d rather listen to broken glass than your nephew. Ha! What you think about that?! Lots of people took music lessons, lots of people can pick up an instrument and play a little something, and a lot of these people, especially the men, fancy themselves ‘good at music.’ Hence, I’m gonna put musician in my bio. Art lover, coffee historian, dog walker, musician. So...? Well, so a lot of people know how to play ping-pong too. And I feel like the olympic ping-pong player. Is… that a phrase? You remember the olympic ping-pong player who once explained, ‘there is no other sport where, if you tell someone you’re a professional, people respond by saying… ‘I dunno! I’m pretty good…’ So I’m out to prove I’m an olympic musician, and I’m better at music than this party of non-professional musicians. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. This is where we are. Measuring yourself against non-professionals… Oy. I need a drink. Where is the bar. It was only recently pointed out to me that feeling like an imposter is a good sign, really, because real imposters never have imposter syndrome. Turns out the real imposters think they’re ‘pretty good!’ So… I want people to know, that even though I’m a professional, and the world thinks I’m really good. I still think I’m really bad, at music. Okay. Do I really think that I’m bad at music? Well, I didn’t practice enough today… Didn’t practice enough the last seven years really. Oh well, I never had the dreaded 9-5… The dreaded… the dread— This is exactly what I’m talking about! this is the 9-5 man!What, writing dialogues featuring split personalities.Indeed! Hear, hear! Everything is research, even the way I’m going to order this drink is a performance. ‘Negroni please. No garnish.’ Ha ha, no garnish. Bet that threw him off. He wasn’t expecting that little bit of flare. that was my improvised cadenza. Being an artist is crazy work. Ugh, did I say artist? Artist! I hate that word artist. Are we not an artist? Not for us to say. Musician. Musician, now this is fine. I can go over to that piano and entertain this whole party. Can your DJ nephew do that? Schmuck. Sit down and play a little Scott Joplin, Evan.Coming right up.Got any Schubert in there?I dunno, Johnny, does a bear crap in the woods?Hahaha. They’d be so charmed. Only a musician can do that. An artist —why they need curation. They need their tools handy or they can’t create. I can make music on a bottle cap. Musicians don’t just sit around waiting for the muse to whisper… Do people think that? Everybody thinks that! That’s the Cliche! For most people music is American Idol. It’s a lucky break. That’s all success is: a lucky break— everyone wants to know how I can make ends meet if they couldn’t. Can’t be hard work, couldn’t possibly be hours of grueling hard work, what did I have a good manager or something? Author, director, educator, socialite, content creator, cat mom, musician… Puke! Vomit creator. Can you add that one please? Vomit creator. What do you do?I’m a Vomit creator.Accurate, accurate! Maybe like, entertainer… Something demeaning. You’re in the entertainment business— but I’m on the quest for truth. Well, I mean… some pop musicians do understand harmony… yes, yes, I did learn a lot from playing rock music, some classical musicians, actually a lot of classical musicians are more like gymnasts… like robot gymnasts. Oh my god. Robo

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  5. ٩ يونيو

    137: Special Guest! Peter Wollny

    Last December, I spoke with Peter Wollny, one of today’s most important Bach scholars. We discuss how one becomes a Bach scholar, what it’s like to be in close proximity with Bach’s handwritten manuscripts, using watermarks within the paper to form a compositional chronology, and forming a ‘personal relationship’ with a figure from the past. Here are some of my favorite quotes from our interview: Q: Is there something that surprises you when reading a piece with scholarly intent vs. hearing it?A: What you can’t predict is how deeply it will go to your heart. — It can easily be said that there is something in the autograph that conveys something about a personality from the past, and it may be true, but it’s very risky because you can end up looking for something that is in your own head but not included in the manuscript. — This past summer I started a series of photographs trying to figure out the population of wild bees in our garden, and actually I identified a species of bees that was believed to be extinct in Saxony since 1930. Chaconne on the Gramophone: The two new chaconnes! Available for download: BWV 1178, in d minorBWV 1179, in g minor (Outro music is a choir of yours truly singing from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21.) We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at WTFBach.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! Concepts Covered: ‘Confirmation Bias’ in musicology, J.S. Bach Toccatas BWV 914, BWV 913, the new Johann Martin Schubart sources. The attribution to Johann Christoph Graff in the new discovery of Bach’s early Chaconnes. Independent fascicles sewn into larger books, the process of fascicles copied from page 4, page 1, then pages 2-3. Peter Wollny’s discovery of new works by J.S. Bach. Bach’s early interest in ostinato pieces, Bach’s copies of chaconne’s by Buxtehude. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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  6. ٢٨ مايو

    136: Bach's 12-Tone Fugue (WTC Finale!)

    (Fear not the length of this episode: the last 25 minutes or so are three different playings of the piece.) Having written a prelude and fugue in every possible key, having created a single temperament for all of those pieces, having stretched the thematic growth from a 6-note fugal subject to one with all 12 possible notes, Bach achieves a victory that would become the very foundations of music. At the very end, in one of his layerings from the 1730s, he adds, S.D.G., Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone: While all pieces in this collection may suggest images, no single piece in the collection is as evocative as this one. For the first and only time in this volume, we get tempo markings for the set: andante and largo. The andante is indeed a walk— toward Golgotha. Two voices in imitation trade the weight of dissonances struggling against the fateful steps up to Mount Calvary: This prelude is the only binary piece in the collection, divided in half by repeat signs (whereas roughly half of ‘Book Two’ are binary preludes.) Finally we get to the fugue. Often called the first 12-tone row in history, the fugue’s subject makes use of every single chromatic note. If C=1 in this diagram (it is usually 0 in Schönbergian theory) you will find all 12 pitches accounted for: Sighs in the slurred notes, the theme bursts with musical ‘crosses.’ Those witnessing the crucifixion weep in four voices. Bach’s burden was tone— he carries all twelve of them. Equally striking in the subject is his own name, crossing upon itself dozens of times in this finale. Every other slur spells his name (in transposition.) A twelve-tone row, crosses, weeping, this theme has everything: It has been a great joy to work on all these pieces over the past 10 months. Thanks for all your support. ‘Book Two’ will also be studied in depth on the show, but not quite yet. There are guest interviews to be released and I will be turning my attention to Bach’s earliest vocal works in the coming months. Soli Deo Gloria! We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at WTFBach.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! Concepts Covered: A long discussion on religion in 18th and 17th century Germany, re: the seriousness of Bach’s own faith. The Well-Tempered Clavier finale, in h moll is today’s subject, conjuring images of Golgotha, crucifixion music, Bach’s own signature, musical crosses, Simon bearing the weight of the cross in the prelude et cetera. The fugal subject is a twelve-tone row, a theory not fully realized until some 200 years after J.S. Bach. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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  7. ٢٠ مايو

    135: H Major! The Final Major (And Tuning It...)

    We reach the last note in The Well-Tempered Clavier, B natural. To this point, Bach has climbed chromatically from C, visiting both minor and major modes in every half step, and before the stunning finale in b minor, Bach writes a somewhat simpler prelude and fugue, BWV 868, in B major. Thank Bach for God! There are few revisions between the earliest and latest copies, the most striking is the inner voice at measure 11 in the prelude. Which do you prefer: or, The two tuning schemes used in today’s episode are 1/4 Comma Meantone, and Kellner’s Bach. N.B. This Kellner is not J.P. Kellner, the important Bach scribe, but rather, Herbert Anton Kellner, an important 20th century musicologist. The fugue, in four voices, features two inverted entrances. (I inverted, vertically, the word ‘theme,’ which is visually more correct than spinning it 180 degrees— I know you’re here for such details.) Write That Fugue! We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at wtfbach.substack.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly. You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! Concepts Covered: J.S. Bach’s BWV 868, the B major Prelude and Fugue from Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, his compositional revisions between the early version and final fair copy. An analysis of large-scale harmonic progressions, such as the move from the tonic to dominant, and a similar movement, from sub-dominant to tonic. The prelude is played in two temperaments, Kellner’s Bach and quarter-comma meantone. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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    134: 5 Flats, 5 Voices: Bach in B-flat Minor

    “While the c# minor fugue awakens the conception of a mighty cathedral, the two numbers in b-flat minor may be likened to artistically wrought side-chapel’s vaults, in which things most precious are kept.” —Busoni’s remarks on BWV 867. Things most precious, indeed. We might well wrap up this dark pearl of b-flat minor and guard it in the ‘side-chapel vaults’ of our hearts. What noble suffering, what secret anguish, what quiet pain is here! To know this music is to be changed, to expand one’s emotional capacity. Notice how, in Bach’s calligraphy, each note in this nine (!) note chord has its own stem: Such detail is sadly missing from any printed edition: It’s Free to B.W.V.! The fugue, in five voices, appears to be almost entirely in stretto, each voice interrupting the former. Notice the overlapping colors: This culminates in what I imagine to be a personal victory for Bach, ‘stretto-ing the stretto,’ making the entrances as close as possible, where the second note of one voice becomes the first note of the next, from top to bottom, all five voices in a masterful technical display: (Looks a bit crowded, yes, but that’s the idea!) We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at wtfbach.substack.comThis is the only place Evan checks comments regularly. You can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachThank you for your help! Concepts Covered: We study the B-flat minor prelude, BWV 867, the Well-Tempered Clavier Book One, both five voice fugues in the second and penultimate minor positions, early manuscript and earliest version alongside P. 415, Bach’s revision of one extra measure. The fugue as a stretto fugue, possible connections between prelude and fugue, a complete stretto in five voices, a five-voice stretto, as well as the Busoni edition’s poetic description of this pair. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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J.S. Bach explained — music analysis, Baroque history, counterpoint and performance practice. A classical music podcast for listeners who want to understand what they're hearing. Weekly analysis of Bach's music: Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, St. Matthew Passion and more. Classical music education for all levels. wtfbach.substack.com

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    Evan Shinners
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