Fugue in G minor
BWV 1026 performed by Shunske Sato and Diego Ares
at Studio 150 - Bethlehemchurch, Amsterdam
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
Bach’s earliest chamber music
The germ of Bach’s later work is seen in a fugue that was not attributed to Bach for a long time
There is both an advantage and a drawback to Bach’s enormous productivity. The advantage is that although hundreds of his works have been lost in between his day and ours, more than a thousand have still survived. The drawback is that Bach’s works are so numerous and diverse in nature that it can be difficult to determine whether or not he actually wrote a certain work.
In the nineteenth century, this work – the Fugue in G minor BWV 1026 – was attributed to Bach, as it comes from the right setting and time (ca. 1714) to be placed in his Weimar period. That would make it Bach’s earliest piece of chamber music. In the twentieth century, however, confusion arose about the origins of the piece. The fugue does not sound like the Bach we know, and there was no concrete evidence that it was written by Bach. The cantata Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, from the same period, met with a similar fate.
In 2005, the German musicologist Peter Wollny came up with proof that this work really is by Bach. So he leaves us wondering about the correctness of our idea of Bach’s musical style, particularly in his early period. On closer inspection, however, Bach’s later style can already be perceived in this fugue. The numerous double stops and the two-part texture of the work appear to be an overture to the virtuoso Sonatas and partitas for violin solo.
- BWV
- 1026
- Title
- Fugue in G minor
- Instrument
- harpsichord, violin
- Genre
- chamber music
- Year
- 1712 - 1714
- City
- Weimar
With support from
Zev Shapiro
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 19 January 2023
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- Recording date
- 4 November 2020
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- Location
- Studio 150 - Bethlehemchurch, Amsterdam
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- Violin
- Shunske Sato
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- Harpsichord
- Diego Ares
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- Instrument
- Joel Katzman, 1991 after Ruckers, 1638
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- Director, camera and lights
- Gijs Besseling
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- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Joeri Saal
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- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera, lights
- Danny Noordanus
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- Data handling
- Stefan Ebels
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- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
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- Producer
- Jessie Verbrugh
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- With support from
- Zev Shapiro
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