'Little' fugue in G minor
BWV 578 performed by Dorien Schouten
Bovenkerk, Kampen
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
Music to play
Bursting with enjoyment
This piece is found in many copies from Bach’s day. Around 100 years after his death, it was published no fewer than four times in rapid succession. Bach’s pupil Johann Georg Schübler thought the theme was so successful that he made a fugue out of it himself. So it was an immensely popular piece. It is not surprising, as the music is bursting with enjoyment. It conjures up a picture of Bach writing enthusiastically and enjoying his own theme while composing. It’s as though he can’t get enough of it, as it is a relatively long time before the second entrance appears.
The piece as a whole has an Italian feel to it and the opening is reminiscent of a violin melody, which is handy to play with an open D string. Although there is plenty of other music that clearly shows a composer relishing his own ideas, it is usually of interest mainly as a ‘composition game’. This piece, however, was not just a game for the composer, but is also fun to listen to and to play. So when organists refer to this piece as the ‘Little’, it is not meant to be denigrating, but is purely to avoid confusion with Bach’s other, longer fugue in G minor, BWV 542, the ‘Great’.
- BWV
- 578
- Title
- Fugue in G minor
- Epithet
- Little
- Instrument
- organ
- Genre
- organ works
- Year
- 1703-1707
- City
- Arnstadt/Weimar
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 4 November 2016
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- Recording date
- 1 October 2015
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- Location
- Bovenkerk, Kampen
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- Organist
- Dorien Schouten
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- Organ
- Reil choir organ
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- Director
- Jan Van den Bossche, Hanna Schreuders
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- Camera
- Maarten van Rossem, Gijs Besseling
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- Music recording, edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Film editor and interview
- Gijs Besseling
-
- Producer
- Jessie Verbrugh
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