Prelude and fugue in A minor
BWV 894 performed by Menno van Delft
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
Spectacular virtuosity
Bach provides entertainment for princes and courtiers, but then with a subversive little smile
Bach was mainly known, especially at the bigger courts like Dresden and Berlin, for his dexterous harpsichord playing and his improvisational talent. Although we do not know precisely what and how he played, a work such as this gives us a good idea. We continually hear “walking or jumping up and down on the instrument”, as Johann Nikolaus Forkel described Bach’s early works, in 1802. But the description also applies well to a later work like this Prelude and fugue in A minor.
Of course, Bach’s real improvisations have not survived, but works like BWV 894 come pretty close to what they would have sounded like. The pieces in which Bach appears to be improvising are not his most subtle compositions or best fugues. But as always in Bach’s day, the musical style was adapted to the location and occasion. And the entertainment of princes and courtiers just so happened to consist, in part, of musical competitions, challenges and spectacular virtuosity. Bach was still Bach, of course, so here too it concerns a prelude and fugue in form, although in fact BWV 894 sounds like a virtuoso concerto with the slow middle movement removed. In the prelude, the opening melody alternates with increasingly virtuoso passages. Then the fugue carries on the “eternal walking and jumping” without pause. It is almost as if Bach is responding to the demand for spectacle by simply removing all the moments of calm, with a subversive little smile.
- BWV
- 894
- Title
- Prelude and fugue in A minor
- Instrument
- harpsichord
- Genre
- harpsichord works
- Year
- 1715-1725
- City
- Weimar/Köthen/Leipzig
- Special notes
- Bach later used both movements for his Triple Concerto, BWV 1044.
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 15 April 2016
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- Recording date
- 17 October 2015
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- Location
- Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
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- Harpsichordist
- Menno van Delft
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- Harpsichord
- Geert Karman after J.H. Gräbner, 1774
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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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- Studio assistent
- 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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