Fugue in A minor

Fugue in A minor

BWV 959 performed by Diego Ares
in Utrecht, The Netherlands

Behind the music

Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits

A Gothic Bach

Just enjoy the mysterious shudders, without thinking too much

This fugue reminds harpsichordist Diego Ares of the horror sitcom The Munsters from the 1960’s. The piece is also reminiscent of the TV series The Addams family from those years, in which the harpsichord features prominently in the credits. The makers apparently found the sound of the instrument as creepy and kooky, and as mysterious and spooky as the family itself. And Ares’ comparison of this Fugue in A minor to Bach’s great Toccata and fugue in D minor, BWV 565 is no coincidence either, as that work is often used as the soundtrack in horror films. In short, like the famous Toccata and fugue in D minor, this Fugue in A minor is also a Gothic Bach.

This idea goes surprisingly far back. In 1745, Johann Adolf Scheibe criticised the “Gothic expositions” by composers who composed “unfathomably and unnaturally” and with many basso continuo figures, writing “are these not real Goths of music?” At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the German music critic E.T.A. Hoffmann was still talking of moments of “inner horror” and of “mysterious shudders” and “terrors” evoked by “mystical counterpoint rules” and numerical relationships – especially in the case of the “great Sebastian Bach”!

Around 1900, the connection changed. Although Bach remained Gothic, this made him very Germanic. As in the great German mediaeval cathedrals, people recognised profundity, mystery and a Germanic sense of sober essence. This connection was repeated endlessly. In 1925, for example, a music journal wrote that the Gothic cathedral was finally filled with the sound of Bach’s music: “And behold – the Gothic cathedral acquires its corresponding context through Bach. It does not remain empty, does not remain in ruins, as the official German history books kept proclaiming”.

As Ares says, throw intellect out of the door for a moment and just enjoy the mysterious shudders.

BWV
959
Title
Fugue in A minor
Instrument
harpsichord
Genre
harpsichord works
Year
unknown

Extra videos

Harpsichordist Diego Ares

“Diego Ares talks about the special associations he has with this work.”

Vocal texts

Original

Translation

Credits

  • Release date
    9 January 2020
  • Recording date
    1 October 2018
  • Location
    Utrecht
  • Harpsichordist
    Diego Ares
  • Harpsichord
    Titus Crijnen, 1992 after Johannes Ruckers, 1638
  • Director and interview
    Jan Van den Bossche
  • Music recording, edit and mix
    Guido Tichelman
  • Camera
    Gijs Besseling
  • Producer
    Jessie Verbrugh

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