'Chromatic' fantasia and fugue in D minor
BWV 903 performed by Menno van Delft
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
Master of the keyboard
In an extra large improvisation, Bach pushes the tonal boundaries of the Baroque
“When Bach improvised, he had power over all 24 keys; he could do whatever he wanted with them”. Biographer Forkel repeats it time and time again: Bach was a real wizard on the keyboard. More than once, he took it upon himself to perform the ultimate in harmonic acrobatics: writing in every possible key of his day (see, in particular, the two collections of Das Wohltemperirte Clavier). In doing so, he exploited the unique characters of his ‘subjects’, as the tuning used at the time – which was not yet even (equal) like the compromised tuning of the modern piano – made certain keys sound much more strident than others.
The art of the improviser – and Bach was certainly one of the greatest ever – was to blend even the most exotic excursions into a cohesive musical story. And of course that required careful planning in order to avoid harmonic accidents.
The ‘Chromatic’ fantasia and fugue, which was already legendary in its day, almost certainly started out as such an improvisation, probably before Bach went to Leipzig in 1723. The epithet ‘Chromatic’ refers to the three-part fugue, the theme of which moves in such mysterious half steps (chromatically) that the key only becomes firmly established along the way. Yet it seems as if Bach was preoccupied with the fantasia, as no fewer than three sensitive different stages of the piece have survived, all from after 1730. This might suggest that it was only then that the piece was used in lessons or played in public for the first time, maybe as a showpiece at Café Zimmermann.
The fantasia actually has three main sections and a coda. All the leaps, runs and broken chords in the second section, and particularly the third section in the form of a recitative, lead up to a grand finale. The tour de force is difficult to describe in words, but just before the end of the fantasia listen out for the upper parts descending step by step, while the bass sustains the same note like a pedal point. After so much virtuoso playing, the fugue forms a dignified conclusion; majestic with a few razor-sharp chords into the bargain.
- BWV
- 903
- Title
- Fantasia and fugue in D minor
- Epithet
- Chromatic
- Instrument
- clavichord
- Genre
- harpsichord works
- Year
- 1714-1719, revision ca. 1730
- City
- Köthen/Leipzig
In loving memory of
Mary R. Flora
Extra videos
Menno van Delft on BWV 903
“What the piece is perhaps most famous for are its arpeggio passages with, on the whole, eight-part chords played up and down the keyboard.”
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 5 August 2016
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- Recording date
- 17 October 2015
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- Location
- Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
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- Clavichordist
- Menno van Delft
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- Klavichord
- Johann Paul Kraemer and sons, Göttingen, 1803
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- Film director and editor
- Dick Kuijs
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- Music production, editing and mix
- Everett Porter
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- Camera
- Martine Rozema, Caroline Nutbey
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- Camera assistant
- Marijn Kooy
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- Gaffer
- Tim Groot
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- Interview
- Gijs Besseling, Kasper Koudenburg
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- Producer concert
- Imke Deters
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- Producer film
- Jessie Verbrugh
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- In loving memory of
- Mary R. Flora, who had a lifelong love of music, promoted education, and believed in the equality of all people.
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