WTF Bach

G Major: Bach’s key of virtuosity, celebration, exuberance (with his occasional contented reflections on mortality.) The passion music and death in the previous prelude and fugue is conquered by this G Major set, BWV 860 from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book One. The fugue is a brilliant model of contrapuntal technique. The three-voice fugue begins: But after only a few bars, Bach is ready to bring in all the voices again— this time with the melodies upside down. (Inverted exposition.) N.B. The middle voice’s theme began on the previous page: And there are stretti in this fugue, one melody interrupting another. Here’s one where the themes are rhythmically shifted to the second half of the bar: The prelude is equally joyous. The earliest version of this prelude is a mere 15 bars long, compared to the 19 bars of the latest version. Notice, too, how Bach changed the key signature of only one (!) staff. The earliest version reads: But later, on the top staff, Bach changes it to 24/16 (!) in the fair copy, P. 415: Want to help this resource? Here’s how: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also beneficial for our stats. You can make a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

A new type of episode, Quodlibets! Quod (what) + libet (it pleases) or, ‘whatever you like,’ ‘anything at all.’ This episode centers on a beautiful chorale prelude, but first, my, Ode to the Negroni: The Meeting of Etymology and Entomology at the top, then some Bach, and finally, how Paradise Lost was written, as explained by the English scholar, John Carey. Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721, in f-sharp minor (note the Phrygian key signature!) is an extraordinary little piece. Written around 1709, it is a profound and most elusive chord progression. Here is the first page: The text from 1524, based on Psalm 51, was translated by the English ecclesiastical reformer Myles Coverdale. I know nothing about him but his Wiki page is fascinating! Finally, John Milton. If, one day, you sit down to read Paradise Lost you may feel… well, lost. It was the writing of the late John Carey that led me through this beautiful poem. Spoiler alert: Milton wrote the poem between sleeping and waking, totally blind, by dictating what he was receiving from a ‘Heavenly Muse’ he thought was the same muse responsible for inspiring the Mosaic books of the bible— Wow. Reading the poem with this in mind is a completely different experience. For Milton, the poem was a purely audible experience, hence reading it aloud brings it to life. He, after all, never saw it on a page. Got Bach? Want to help this resource stick around? Here’s how: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also beneficial for our numbers. You can make a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Concepts Covered: Bach in the Phrygian Mode, Tone III, Missing flats, missing sharps, Bach’s Key signatures, John Milton, how did Milton write Paradise Lost, Etymology and Entomology, The Origins of the Negroni Cocktail Source quoted:Leaver, Robin A. Luther's Liturgical Music: Principles and Implications. Eerdmans, 2007. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

“It’s not that Bach writes music and then sits in an armchair and thinks about God... Bach writing music is Bach thinking about God.” Individual keys are often loaded with personal significance to the composer. To what extent was Bach thinking of the double sense of Kreuze— both as ‘cross’ and the musical sign for a sharp? As discussed in the episode, f# minor wasn’t necessarily the key signature with three ‘crosses,’ as Bach’s f# minor looks like this on the page: Is it more likely that Bach saw b minor as the image of Golgotha on the page? Dare we speculate further and claim that the symmetry of the C# between the two F’s is Christus between the two thieves? Speculation adds nothing of substance… but it’s fun! Bach’s b minor on the page: In any case, Kreuze was probably never far from Bach’s mind, and f# minor was usually a key for expressing pain and suffering in the cantatas. The fugue from Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 859 is full of blatant passion language, seen in the weeping of the countersubject: Does The World Need More Bach? One question I have concerning modern editions is the tenor voice in bar 36. In the earliest version, Bach has given— as a cautionary accidental— D natural: But in the revision, he forgets the cautionary accidental (or deems it unnecessary.) Does this omission justify D#?! I don’t think so. Both Henle and Bärenreiter suggest D#: At the end of the episode, we explore the canon from the sonata in A Major for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1015. The third movement (in f# minor) is a strict canon from beginning to end. Check this out: Want to support W.T.F Bach? Here’s how: The best way is to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comYou can also make a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Concepts Covered: Bach and religion, composition as theological thought, the symbolic meaning of musical keys in Bach’s works, f♯ minor & b minor, Calvary or Golgotha. Kreuze in Bach studies: the double meaning of “cross” and the sharp (♯) sign in German language. f♯ minor as a key of suffering and affliction in Bach’s cantatas and keyboard works. Passion rhetoric in BWV 859 (WTC I) Canon analysis of BWV 1015, the Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in A major. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

The Well-Tempered Clavier …what does it actually imply? In this episode I seek (in 18 minutes) to demonstrate mathematically pure intervals, alongside ‘tempered’ intervals. The circle of fifths is in fact a spiral of fifths— it is infinite. We seek to make it a circle for convenience, but this means that the distance between what would be mathematically pure intervals must be altered (!) in order to force the spiral into a circle. The question remains: how do we do that? Music today is heard in equal temperament, where all keys, all tonalities sound the same. Pure intervals have been forced into identical ‘impure’ ones— convenient, but this deprives us not only of a beautiful natural simplicity, but also the individual character of each key found in unequal temperaments. From the earliest European music, numerous solutions to this immortal problem have been offered. By the time Bach arrives, his solution, laid out for us in The Well-Tempered Clavier, is certainly an elegant one…but we don’t quite know exactly what it is. The remainder of the episode analyzes the prelude and fugue, no. 13, in F-sharp major, BWV 858. A look at the opening of the prelude in earliest version offers lovely insights into Bach’s working mind: In revision Bach changes the repeated note — a recognizable motif of the early version— into a trill, now acting as its own motif: Particularly fascinating is the way Bach changes the harmonic rhythm from the early version here, bar 17: Now again from measure 17 in the revision. Bach inserts two full bars, extending the harmonic length of g# minor and C# Major: “Thank Bach for God.” A huge thanks to Bradly Lehman for helping preparing this episode. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what his work covers, but hopefully you’ve got some idea how deep the topic of tuning can go. Lehman has some great online resources illuminating the fascinating world of temperament. For starters, try: www.larips.com (Spiral spelled backward) Dig deeper with this essay here, published by the Reimenschneider Bach Institute: And finally, more Articles and Essays by Bradley Lehman Want to help this resource? Here’s how: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also beneficial for our stats. You can make a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Concepts Covered: Pure vs tempered intervals, ‘spiral of fifths,’ vs. the circle of fifths, equal temperament, loss of key character, Bradly Lehman temperament, historical tuning systems, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, temperament and tuning, F-sharp major Prelude and Fugue No. 13, Bach’s compositional revisions, and BWV 858 Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

A double canon from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein! A bit late, but Bach’s take on this Christmas tune is really wonderful. See how both melodies combine to make a double canon: German mystic, Heinrcih Seuse, author of ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ English composer R. J. Pearsell’s setting of the melody. Spread the Love, Doubly Canonic: N.B. I’ve been wanting to make this rebrand for a while: The title of this podcast is no longer “The WTF Bach Podcast” but simply, “WTF Bach” — I hope this doesn’t cause any problems, if you run in to any issues as all, please alert us! Thanks! Want to help this resource? Here’s how: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also beneficial for our stats. You can make a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

I had the great pleasure of speaking with Mr. Paul Jacobs. On the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, July 28th, 2000, Jacobs played Bach’s complete organ works in one giant 18 hour concert— he was 23. Our conversation spans how to memorize, scholars vs. performers, pianists playing the organ, pop music, music for consumption, ‘social media musicians,’ music as a substitute for God, The Art of Fugue (harpsichord or organ?) and more… Become Your Best Buxtehude: Some links mentioned in the chat: Organmaster Shoes The Robertsbridge Codex Schumann’s advice for young musicians and of course, Paul’s website. Want to help this resource stick around? Here’s how: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also beneficial for our numbers. You can make a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s get our good new habits in early in the year! In this episode, I read practical advice from three organists/organ method books. The organ method books are in a class of their own— highly entertaining reading. We begin with Francis Routh’s Teach Yourself The Organ (1958.) His asterisk marking the complete works of Buxtehude as ‘fairly easy’ is representative of this amusing book: Harold Gleason’s method book of 1962 makes up the bulk of this episode, the complete advice is pasted below. We feature some of Fayth Freese’s excellent article from The Diapason. I recommend the full read. And here is the advice to teens I made for the Harrison School for the Arts in Lakeland Florida. I cannot emphasize enough how music should be a joyous process at this age, never an abusive one. From Gleason (bold type is my emphasis) HOW TO PRACTICE: * Make a schedule for daily practice. Devote a definite amount of time to technique, to new music, to perfecting music already studied, and to memorizing. Devote at least one hour a day to piano practice. Later the student will need to reserve time for perfecting the many skills required for playing the church service. * Practice as if the piece were being memorized (see the section on Memorizing). * Study the music before beginning to practice. Note the key signature, time signature, note values, fingering, pedaling, structure, special problems, and general style. If the fingering and pedaling is not given or is inadequate, it should be carefully worked out according to the principles given in the sections on Fingering and Pedaling. * Memorize and always use the same fingering and pedaling. Incorporate the articulation, phrasing and interpretation into the practice. * Try to avoid playing wrong notes or incorrect time values from the first time an exercise or piece is practiced. If a wrong note or rhythm is played, do not immediately correct it. Go back to the beginning of the phrase and repeat the passage correctly a number of times. * Concentrate on the work at hand and avoid mechanical, unthinking practice and repetition. Always practice after a lesson. * Practice slowly in the following sequence: right hand; left hand; both hands; pedal; right hand and pedal; left hand and pedal; both hands and pedal. Begin the slow practice of short sections for both hands and pedal while working on separate parts. * When the phrases and sections of a composition have been mastered at a low tempo, play it all the way through. When this has been accomplished with complete muscular control and accuracy, the tempo may be gradually increased. Return to slow, detailed practice of sections which are not secure, and repeat this process at succeeding practice periods. * Always practice at a steady tempo. Do not play easy places fast and difficult places slowly. * Devote the most attention to difficult passages. * In contrapuntal music, play one or more parts and sing another part. * In passages of a technical nature, the practice of four-note groups in the various rhythmic patterns is helpful in developing speed and control. * Stop practicing and relax for a few minutes at the first sign of tension. * When practicing technical exercises for manuals and pedals, and when first learning a piece, use clear, quick-speaking stops of 8’ or 8’ and 4’ pitch (Gedackt 8’, Principal 4’). * As soon as the notes in a composition have been mastered, work out an appropriate registration. * The drawing of stops and the use of combination pistons and reversibles should be carefully practiced and synchronized, in order not to interfere with the performance of the music. * Above all, the student should learn to listen and hear that the parts are sounding together, are released together, and that the touch, rhythm, accents, and interpretation are actually being realized as intended. How’s Your Contrapuntal Journey Fugueing? HOW TO MEMORIZE: The principal reason for playing from memory lies in the fact that it...

This famous piece: saw quite a few revisions between its conception and the version we know. For starters, note the earliest version’s key signature, and the E-flat in bar 2: The most striking feature of the early version is the abrupt end: No presto? No adagio? No allegro? The fugue (in 3 voices) is a fugue with two countersubjects. See them here, the first on top, the second below. Both countermelodies occur with every entrance of the main theme: Become your best Buxtehude. We also have a brief look at the c minor invention, BWV 773. The piece is almost entirely a canon. I also mentioned the issue of “stemming” at the beginning of the episode. Here is the chord I mentioned (BWV 867.) Note how Bach’s nine individual stems imply nine separate voices, whereas the print reduces them to only four: N.B. Most of the episodes of this podcast have been newly catalogued according to genre or theme or BWV on my Substack. Yet another reason for you to join the platform! You can now browse according to BWV, instrumentation, et cetera. Have a gander at wtfbach.substack.com Thanks to all my listeners for supporting me in 2025! Thanks to Romain Villet for reminding me to make this episode. Best of luck to him and to all brave enough to transpose Bach in 2026! We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Concepts Covered: This podcast episode discusses Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1, (1722) the second prelude and fugue in C minor. Including revisions, fugue structure, and contrapuntal technique, with a few hints at BWV 773 and BWV 867. There is a double countersubject, canonic writing, BWV 847a, and the earliest versions before source P. 415 Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

We’ve traveled halfway through the chromatic scale and Bach celebrates this victory with one of the more complex fugues in the collection. The subject is somber, full of half-steps and even a cross. It foreshadows the true finale at the close of all 24 pieces: This is one of the only fugues to make strict use of the countersubject, occurring in all but one (!) appearances of the subject. This motif, which we call the head of the countersubject, dominates all the episodic material both right side up, and upside down: Got Bach? The prelude contains some interesting revisions. Here is one I thought would be too subtle to hear, but I think it’s quite audible in the episode: The latter represents a rare simplification of harmony and texture in revision. The biggest addendum of all is the additional measures at the end of the piece. See how abruptly the early version ends: We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Concepts Covered: J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, Tuning, Revisions, Early verisions. The f minor prelude and fugue BWV 857, with its countersubject, analysis and study. Organ and harpsichord performances, Chromaticism, tone-rows, Get full access to WTF Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

YouTube These Days.... Enjoying your contrapuntal journey? Here’s how you can help: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions (yes, you can subscribe for free!) are also beneficial for our numbers. You can make a one-time donation here. We run a 501(c)3, so let us know if you want a tax deduction: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Get full access to WTF Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

Anyone else feel like we don’t have enough fugues in F major? In the last of Bach’s four layerings to the fair copy of The Well-Tempered Clavier, we see some beautiful details that would have been lost had Bach not made this last series of revisions in the 1740s. It makes you wonder if Bach would have made even more, should he have lived as long as Telemann! Bar 42 reads like this in A1-A3 into the 1740s: Then, in A4, Bach found expression in the tie and 32nd notes: Such a revision physically looks like this on fair copy: This particular revision may not be immediately clear to the naked eye, but some are (see the e minor revisions at the bottom of the post.) I believe it was X-ray technology that led to such breakthroughs in the scholarship, but some layers might be a sort of ‘white-out’ or paste that physically would stand out on the paper— any expertise would be appreciated in the comments! We know that in the Saint Matthew Passion, Bach quite literally ‘layered’ smaller pieces of paper onto the manuscript, but I think that has to do with repair, not necessarily revision. One famous layering in A4 looks as if it’s been pasted onto the manuscript… but it could be my imagination. From the first fugue, BWV 846: WTF Bach is free to all! Let’s spread the awareness of contrapuntal mastery. However, if you support financially, you’re much less likely to write parallel 5ths. There are a number of revisions also in the F Major prelude. Interestingly, the length of both prelude and fugue remains unchanged between earliest versions and the fair copy. Bach had the general harmonic rhythm right, but smooths out the insides of some measures: (Early versions, followed by the fair copy) And so on… (more demonstrations in the episode.) I finish the episode with four beautiful revisions to the e minor prelude (covered in Ep. 114) again made in A4. These are typical of his final revisions to the WTC1, bursting with 32nds. Here, one can somewhat plainly see the difference between inks: Before these revisions, the melody was as follows: We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Concepts Covered: J.S. Bach’s late A4 revisions to the Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 846–869) in the F-major fugue BWV 856, the F major prelude, the discant adjustments that earlier manuscript stages (A1–A3) lack. The late embellishments in the E-minor prelude BWV 855, The genesis of WTK I, variant readings, fair-copy corrections, Harmonic analysis, contrapuntal rules, and the general genius of Bach. Get full access to WTF Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

Giving thanks to all my listeners today! Why do you listen to this podcast? And the original Spanish of the Borges poem I read. (As soon as Andrea sends her recording there will be a button to click to hear the Spanish audio here!) Otro poema de los dones Gracias quiero dar al divinoLaberinto de los efectos y de las causasPor la diversidad de las criaturasQue forman este singular universo,Por la razón, que no cesará de soñarCon un plano del laberinto,Por el rostro de Elena y la perseverancia de Ulises,Por el amor, que nos deja ver a los otrosComo los ve la divinidad,Por el firme diamante y el agua suelta,Por el álgebra, palacio de precisos cristales,Por las místicas monedas de Ángel Silesio,Por Schopenhauer,Que acaso descifró el universo,Por el fulgor del fuego,Que ningún ser humano puede mirar sin un asombro antiguo,Por la caoba, el cedro y el sándalo,Por el pan y la sal,Por el misterio de la rosa,Que prodiga color y que no lo ve,Por ciertas vísperas y días de 1955,Por los duros troperos que en la llanuraArrean los animales y el alba,Por la mañana en Montevideo,Por el arte de la amistad,Por el último día de Sócrates,Por las palabras que en un crepúsculo se dijeronDe una cruz a otra cruz,Por aquel sueño del Islam que abarcóMil noches y una noche,Por aquel otro sueño del infierno,De la torre del fuego que purificaY de las esferas gloriosas,Por Swedenborg,Que conversaba con los ángeles en las calles de Londres,Por los ríos secretos e inmemorialesQue convergen en mí,Por el idioma que, hace siglos, hablé en Nortumbria,Por la espada y el arpa de los sajones,Por el mar, que es un desierto resplandecienteY una cifra de cosas que no sabemosY un epitafio de los vikings,Por la música verbal de Inglaterra,Por la música verbal de Alemania,Por el oro, que relumbra en los versos,Por el épico invierno,Por el nombre de un libro que no he leído:Gesta Dei per Francos,Por Verlaine, inocente como los pájaros,Por el prisma de cristal y la pesa de bronce,Por las rayas del tigre,Por las altas torres de San Francisco y de la isla de Manhattan,Por la mañana en Texas,Por aquel sevillano que redactó la Epístola MoralY cuyo nombre, como él hubiera preferido, ignoramos,Por Séneca y Lucano, de Córdoba,Que antes del español escribieronToda la literatura española,Por el geométrico y bizarro ajedrezPor la tortuga de Zenón y el mapa de Royce,Por el olor medicinal de los eucaliptos,Por el lenguaje, que puede simular la sabiduría,Por el olvido, que anula o modifica el pasado,Por la costumbre,Que nos repite y nos confirma como un espejo,Por la mañana, que nos depara la ilusión de un principio,Por la noche, su tiniebla y su astronomía,Por el valor y la felicidad de los otros,Por la patria, sentida en los jazmines,O en una vieja espada,Por Whitman y Francisco de Asís, que ya escribieron el poema,Por el hecho de que el poema es inagotableY se confunde con la suma de las criaturasY no llegará jamás al último versoY varía según los hombres,Por Frances Haslam, que pidió perdón a sus hijosPor morir tan despacio,Por los minutos que preceden al sueño,Por el sueño y la muerte, esos dos tesoros ocultos,Por los íntimos dones que no enumero,Por la música, misteriosa forma del tiempo Enjoying your contrapuntal journey? Here’s how you can help: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber atwtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions (yes, you can subscribe for free!) are also beneficial for our numbers. You can make a one-time donation here. We run a 501(c)3, so let us know if you want a tax deduction: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Thank you for your support! Get full access to WTF Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

Something’s missing: The fact that this piece was conceived independently of its solo line is a marvelous insight into Bach’s compositional process. Somewhere along the way, Bach revisited the piece and added the upper line: Here is a link to the video where Schiff talks about the Well-Tempered.And don’t miss the Kurt Vonnegut moment at 32:45! We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Concepts Covered: BWV 854 and BWV 855 in the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One, two-voice fugue, the early versions, Bach’s revision. A look at finding the right character, as seen in the Christmas Oratorio, where motivic cells show a consistent compositional logic. Bach’s improvisation, or at least improvisatory style while writing a solo line over a preformed prelude, and predetermined harmonic rhythm. We also see Bach’s use of parallel octaves in Bach, and parallel octaves in the Well-Tempered Clavier. Contrapuntal analysis, study. Get full access to WTF Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

Just a few moments ago, two newly christened works were connected to Bach’s name for the time after 320 years. Exciting news, have a listen! Many thanks to the Bach Archive in Leipzig for the production. (Sorry for any glitches in the production, episode made in haste!) Know someone who’d enjoy hearing about this joyous discovery? A link to the source of d minor Chaconne, BWV 1178A link to the source of the g minor Chaconne, BWV 1179 The live stream link (English overdub.) We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

—More matter with less art. (Hamlet, II.ii) Got friends who speak English? Spread W.T.F. P.S. The music at the end is a taste of a forthcoming W.T.F. Bach album: arrangements of the Orgelbüchlein. Album title suggestions welcome! We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

“Whoever has once felt this wonderful tranquility has comprehended the mysterious spirit that has here expressed all it knew and felt of life in the secret language of tone, and will render Bach the thanks we render only to the great souls to whom it is given to reconcile men with life and bring them peace.” -Schweitzer, Vol. 1 W.T.F. Bach wants YOU to subscribe A prelude in E-flat minor, with a fugue in its enharmonic other. The image attached to this episode is from the Czerny edition, who felt the need to dispense with the enharmonic intrigue, and publish the fugue in E-flat minor. Is the prelude the most crushingly beautiful thing Bach wrote? The fugue, devoid of the sensitivity found in the prelude, displays the largest repertoire of fugal technique thus far: stretto, inversion, canon in all voices, augmentation— a veritable dictionary of thematic possibilities. Here, for example, is a passage I find most striking: stretto and strict canon in all voices. First, the theme appears in blue, ascending in perfect fourths, and a moment later, in red, inverts into perfect fifths. Bach seems to have been fond of this idea (and perhaps the shape of this subject as lending itself to fugal techniques) as he employs it in four voices —nearly at the exact same spot in the fugue— in the fifth contrapuntus in The Art of Fugue: We heard from Edwin Fischer, ukuleleist Herb Ohta (whose Ukulele Bach Playlist is a trip) and at the end, Pierre Hantai. Do check out Alfredo Sanchez’ recording on guitar, he’s got a great feel for this music. We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Concepts Covered: The Well-Tempered Clavier, J.S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E-flat minor / D-sharp minor Expression vs. technical complexity. The prelude, written in E-flat minor, is introspective, harmonically rich. Its fugue, in the enharmonic key of D-sharp minor, moves from emotion to intellect, showcasing the most extensive use of fugal technique seen so far in the cycle: A survey of contrapuntal possibilities. Analysis, early versions such as BWV 853a, history, revisions, and study. Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

A most precious 15 minutes of audio. In improvised miniatures with different combinations of stops, Helmut Walcha gives invaluable insights into the world of improvising and the various colors on the organ. An assistant names the stops he will use before he plays— you can see the list of stops in the links. I recommend the first link in particular for its details on the restorations and the photos of cherubs, et cetera, but you’ve also got to admire an organ that has its own Wikipedia page. The organ, built in 1680, was made world famous by Walcha. Thanks, -e.s. https://arpschnitger.nl/scappel.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_of_St._Peter_and_Paul_in_Cappel We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

Continuing our study of The Well-Tempered Clavier, (hear the first episode in this series via this link) Bach begins the second quarter of the collection with a dramatic genre: a fugal prelude. Not only that, the fugue appears to be a double fugue! The prelude begins more contrapuntally than the preludes we have met thus far: After a few bars of this, Bach dashes our hope that the prelude will continue exclusively with this motif. A flourish of virtuosity vanishes into what seems to be a fugue— of completely unrelated material— nearly in stile antico: Not content to remain a simple fugue, Bach doubles down by introducing a second subject derived from the opening gestures. Notice how the new subject contrasts with the first, moving not only quicker, but in stepwise motion rather than by leaps. May This Baroque Resource ne’er be Broke! Help us thrive: As mentioned in the episode, here is a chart illustrating the symmetrical placement of the two double fugues within Bach’s collection. Such symmetry, I feel, is not merely coincidental. Supporting this show ensures its longevity. Long may WTF Bach endure: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comBut free subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbach We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help! Concepts Covered: In this analysis of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, BWV 852, E-flat Major, Es Dur, we examine Bach’s contrapuntal design, double fugue prelude, and development. This new fugal prelude, Bach transitions from free texture to strict imitation, introducing a second subject derived from the opening motif. This new theme contrasts with the first, employing stepwise motion, Baroque counterpoint and architectural symmetry in the prelude and fugue. The episode also discusses Bach’s placement of the two double fugues in The Well-Tempered Clavier as an act of structural balance. Early version, BWV852a, also covered. Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

“Cheever was a reasonably tormented man.” -Jerry Lowenthal Enjoy this short story— one of the great American short stories— by John Cheever. Thanks!-Evan Help this resource survive for future Bach enthusiasts! 100% fueled by your support. We exist because of your Donations: We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach https://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this scholarly resource ensures its longevity!Thank you! Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

How boring would this be? Admittedly, I still find that beautiful, but Bach is one note ahead of me: We have a prelude propelled by its instability. This might be something to pay attention to in The Well-Tempered Clavier —if not all his writing in the early 1720s— ordinary melodic shapes that become more compelling when slightly offset. We want YOU! to support WTF Bach We are 25% of the way through this triumph of tonality. Now, for the first time in the collection, the fugue makes explicit use of inverted entrances. Here is the subject ‘right-side up’ at the opening: Exactly halfway through the fugue, Bach brings the subjects in a second exposition, only now they are upside down: He also inverts the order of voices in the beautifully expressive episode that occurred earlier, and makes explicit use of stretto in the second half. Other fugal techniques such as ‘splintering’ fragments of the subject in stretto or in parallel thirds make for a brilliant finale on the first quarter of his 1722 masterpiece. Have a listen to the episode for more analysis! We Survive on your Donations! Thank you! We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach https://venmo.com/wtfbach Supporting this show ensures its longevity!—Help WTF Bach reach more listeners— Concepts covered: Preludes and fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier, the D minor BWV 851 (and others, such as BWV 850) Bach’s compositional technique in revision. The early version, BWV 851a is a mere 15 bars long. Counterpoint, voice leading, and harmonic direction, inversion, (the first inversions in the WTK) and stretto in this fugue. Also, instability in melodic design and rhythmic offsetting. Bach marks periods of structure through the book by placing more complicated techniques at these symmetrical points. Also, articulation added to the revised versions, the autograph fair copy. Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe