Last episode we introduced Bach’s second cantata cycle from 1724. We saw in the first cantatas of the cycle, Bach used a church melody as the cantus firmus first in the sopranos, then the altos.

This episode we will explore the next two cantatas where Bach sets the cantus firmus in the tenors in BWV 7, and the basses in BWV 135.

About the melody you may know as “O Sacred Head Surrounded”

Pieces heard:

BWV 7, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Full Performance)

BWV 135, Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder (Full Performance)

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Posting almost daily music from the keyboard repertoire.

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Check this playlist:

A fan of the show made this great Spotify playlist with all the cantatas in the second cycle! Thank you! Love to my fans-

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Peter Schickele was one of my idols. He died on Tuesday, January 16. His creation, P.D.Q. Bach, helped bring much needed self-effacing humor to the world of classical music. Links below to help you get into his (and Victor Borge’s— another giant of classical music parody—) life and work:

Peter Schickele’s Obituary, NY Times

Beethoven’s 5th announced as a baseball game (a classic!)

The Short-Tempered Clavier

Report from Hoople (full album- the Beethoven sketch is included)

The Definitive Autobiography of P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742?)

and we should also mention,

Victor Borge (anything you can find will amuse you!)

Good Ol’ Piano Slapstick

Mozart Opera

Inflationary Language

Television Special (75+ Min)

In this episode we delve into Bach’s second cantata cycle begun in 1724. The first two cantatas are briefly covered, (with two further cantatas to follow next episode) as well as the connection between the Lutheran church melodies and the significance of the year Bach began this ambitious project.

Pieces heard:

BWV 20, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (Click here to see the live video)

BWV 2, Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein

BWV 684, Chirst unser Herr zum Jordan Kamm

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I rarely just play on this podcast, but that’s how I’d like to package this little present for my listeners. Rather than spending days researching and writing, today I will play four fugues and introduce them only briefly. It’s some twenty minutes of music I hope you can enjoy during your holidays.

The quote I read to introduce this short concert is by Mortimer J. Adler.

Bach wrote this music before 1717 (at the latest.) These are fugues whose themes originated in the work of other composers. Bach borrows these themes and creates his own work. These fugues are not commonly played which make them all the more fun to listen to and study.

As always, thanks for listening, thanks for spreading the word and supporting this podcast. I’m looking forward to 2025 with you Bach enthusiasts.

Fugues I performed:

Fugue in C major, BWV 966 (on a theme by Adam Reinken)

Fugue in C major, BWV 946 (on a theme by Tomaso Albinoni)

Fugue in a minor, BWV 965 (on a theme by Adam Reinken)

Fugue in A major, BWV 949 (probably on a theme by Tomaso Albinoni)

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In today’s episode we have a look at one of Bach’s Arnstadt masterpieces, the fugue in c minor BWV 574 on a theme by Giovanni Maria Bononcini (The composers Giovanni Bononcini and Antonio Maria Bononcini were his sons.)

According to the Neue Bach Ausgabe, this fugue is the first double fugue in history.

Here is a picture of the title page in his brother’s hand with the erroneous attribution to Legrenzi:

You can download the music to the fugue here. (The MIDI version I created at the end of the episode is BWV574b.)

Today’s sponsor is Modartt. I am playing the organ using their wonderful software, Organteq. Read about the physical modeling here. Thanks to them, and thanks to all my listeners.

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EDIT June 2024. I have misunderstood the term ‘Applicatio’ in this episode. I now understand it to refer to the fingering and not the application of ornaments— despite the fact that many ornaments are ‘applied’ in the piece. ‘Applicatio’ as I now understand it sometimes referred to the hand position on a string instrument, or here, where to ‘apply’ the fingers. This video highlights the correction. -e.s.

Firstly, here is the image of what’s in question:

If you’ve ever wondered what all the ‘squiggles’ are about over certain notes in sheet music, this episode will you give you a good idea.

Here is the ‘Applicatio,’ the little piece which would have shown Bach’s son (and other future students) how to apply these ornaments- notice the fingering and the ‘J.N.J.’:

Just a quick episode today! Stay tuned for more writings and longer episodes soon.

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How did Bach understand the concept of Phi? 1.618…? Here are a few examples where Bach highlights the “Golden Section” in a piece through either a fugal technique, a shift in musical language, or something else. Send us your most remarkable golden section moments!

For the first episode where I mentioned the golden section and Bach, click here.

Pieces covered:

Fugue in C major, BWV 846

Invention in C major, BWV 770

Allegro from Sonata in a minor, BWV 1003

Confiteor and Et Expecto from Mass in b minor, BWV 232

Contrapuntus 10 from The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080

Phi as seen as a structural principle in BWVs 1001-1006, The Sei Solo Book One (Violin Sonatas and Partitas) will be written about soon!

Fugue in b minor, BWV 869

Performers featured:

Trevor Pinnock

Nathan Milstein

Sigiswald Kuijken (and La Petite Bande)

Ralph Kirkpatrick

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In this episode I delve into two very diverse chorale preludes: one from the so-called, “Great 18” and one from the individually transmitted.

Here is a link to Bach’s own autograph of the Leipzig chorales. Beautiful handwriting!

Marie-Claire Alain’s recording of BWV 655 (completely different to Koopman’s)

The “Organ Sonatas” I recorded with LH/RH hard panning On Spotify on Apple 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:

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Supporting this show ensures its longevity.

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Thanks for listening! In this episode we discuss the history of the Chorale- how it became called 'Chorale' and how it factors into Bach's music.

Pieces featured:

BWV 691 and BWV 93 (Chorale) at the same time

BWV 651

BWV 682

Performers were: Michel Chapuis, Kay Johannsen

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Here are the links to the cantata cycles mentioned at the end, thank you, Tucker! From the profile you can access different ensembles' complete cantata cycles as well as other great selections.

Tucker's Spotify Playlists

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Though this episode starts with quite the extended introduction, this is in fact

EPISODE THREE

In a four-part study into the 14 additional canons on the back of the Goldbergs, BWV1087.

Here in this video, we dismiss a popular Bach video, and examine which videos are in fact Möbius strips. 

Here is the disproven crab canon video.

Here are two studies which don't quite go far enough:

One. I love this channel, don't get me wrong- they just didn't quite examine the consequences of chromatic inversion.

Two. The American Mathematical Society publishes similarly.

Both studies miss the technical inversions that I have pointed out in this episode.

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And now the blurb from the other two episodes studying BWV 1087:

On the back of his own personal copy of the 'Goldberg Variations', Bach notated an additional fourteen canons. These were discovered only as late as 1974(!) and are among the most interesting compositional exercises we know from the composer. 

From eight bass notes (the first 8 notes of the 'Goldberg' Aria- the structure in a sense,) Bach creates, yes, fourteen other canons. In this episode, we discuss engraving and canons 5-9.

Here is what they look like as seen on the back of Bach's own copy:

and HERE is the link to engraving- you can see how Balthasar Schmid (I accidentally added an 'S' to his name in the episode) engraved Bach's BWV988.

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