BACH’S WEDNESDAY POLL Organ Fugues Championship — Round 4 Which is your favorite? Fugue from Fantasia & Fugue in G minor ‘Great’ BWV 542 Fugue from Prelude & Fugue in C major BWV 531 Fugue from Prelude & Fugue in D major BWV 532 Fugue from Prelude & Fugue in B minor BWV 544

András Schiff on Bach’s Inventions & Sinfonias: he presents the whole set and plays excerpts from each piece. BWV 772–801 are 30 short keyboard gems teaching clarity, cantabile playing and the art of shaping ideas. https://t.co/QfDWR2SBhP #Bach #ClassicalMusic #BaroqueMusic

J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in B major BWV 868 from The Well-Tempered Clavier I (1722): the Prelude, in 3 balanced sections modulating to F♯ major and G♯ minor, is serene and delicate. The 4-voice tonal fugue has a broad, measured flow. https://t.co/rzS33Dtgcx #Bach #BWV868

"Once you do get to know Bach’s music well enough to love it, you’ll find you love him more than any other composer". Leonard Bernstein. #Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach's Canon perpetuus super Thema Regium from the Musical Offering BWV 1079 (1747): a three-voice canon, two voices in imitation (bass & violin clefs), while the royal theme enters as cantus firmus in alto. https://t.co/M3Boj4lvU1 #Bach #BWV1079 #ClassicalMusic

J.S. Bach’s Cantata Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend from the Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 (1734): the 2nd Cantata from opens with a gentle pastoral Sinfonia in siciliano rhythm. Its 14 movements trace the Nativity story. https://t.co/X0GfLFhOvX #Bach #BWV248 #JSBach #Xmas

J.S. Bach's Invention No. 1 in C major BWV 772 (1723): its half-bar theme already implies equal use of all fingers, with both halves treated independently in sequential passages. From bar 3 Bach introduces the inversion of the subject. https://t.co/KgE0rMANCM #Bach #BWV772

“If all the music written since Bach's time should be lost, it could be reconstructed on the foundation which Bach laid”. Charles Gounod. #Bach #Gounod

J.S. Bach’s Christe, aller Welt Trost BWV 670 from Clavier-Übung III (1739): a chorale motet for 2 manuals and pedal. The Phrygian-mode cantus firmus appears en taille in long notes, while the other parts unfold a smooth stile antico fugue. https://t.co/puiQti67OU #Bach #BWV670

J.S. Bach's Fantasia in C minor BWV 562 (c.1720): a noble 5-voice work built on a melodic theme first stated in the upper voice, then descending through the others over a long tonic pedal. After a recitative-like cadenza it ends in the major. https://t.co/2GJGUcUy0m #Bach #BW562

BACH’S WEDNESDAY POLL Organ Fugues Championship — Round 3 Which is your favorite? Fugue from Prelude & Fugue in E minor BWV 548 Fugue from Toccata & Fugue in D minor ‘Dorian’ BWV 538 Fugue from Toccata & Fugue in D minor BWV 565 Fugue from Toccata & Fugue in F major BWV 540

András Schiff introduces J.S. Bach’ s 4 Duettos BWV 802–805 from Clavier-Übung III (1739). These two-voice masterpieces explore chromaticism, elegant counterpoint, and a wide range of expressive possibilities—far beyond the two-Part Inventions. https://t.co/9nuoxpgzJi #Bach

J.S. Bach’s Prelude & Fugue in B-flat minor BWV 867 from The Well-Tempered Clavier I (1722): the expressive arioso prelude is built on ascending motivic repetitions. The 5-voice fugue, close to stile antico, rises to a majestic final stretto. https://t.co/kYbKtKC7tr #Bach #BWV867

"Bach is the only composer whose every note is necessary". Igor Stravinsky. #Bach #Stravinsky

J.S. Bach’s Ricercar a 3 from The Musical Offering BWV 1079 (1747): a noble, architecturally balanced 3-voice fugue, likely a transcription of Bach’s own improvisation for Frederick the Great. It is generally treated as a harpsichord piece. https://t.co/tpyD307jzS #Bach #BWV1079

The Christmas Oratorio will accompany us throughout the Advent season starting today.

J.S. Bach’s Cantata “Jauchzet, frohlocket!” from the Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 (1734): a 9-movement cantata with festive trumpets & timpani, expressive recitatives, 2 arias and chorales. The opening chorus reuses music from Cantata BWV 214. https://t.co/pQFCQkb9ll #Bach #Xmas

J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 6 in E minor BWV 830 (1730). The most imposing of the 6: a dramatic Toccata, a richly ornamented Allemande, a driving Corrente, a meditative Air, an intense Sarabande, a graceful Gavotte & a highly contrapuntal Gigue. https://t.co/dBov44dXzF #Bach #BWV830

"It may well be that some composers do not believe in God. All of them, however, believe in Bach". Béla Bartók. #Bach #Bartok

J.S. Bach’s Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit BWV 669 from Clavier-Übung III (1739): Bach turns to stile antico, following strict counterpoint in the manner of Frescobaldi. The chorale in the soprano unfolds in the solemn Phrygian mode. https://t.co/y21kr2gj7D #Bach #BWV669 #JSBach