Bach - Fanfare Fugue

This was a fun little fugue I played for a recital last May. It's nothing stunning or super-impressive, but it is a lighthearted piece that was easy to put together at the last minute. The real name is Fugue in C major, but it's nickname is the Fanfare Fugue. I'm having trouble locating the BWV#; it's not listed in the Dupre edition for some reason. IMSLP has it listed as BWV Anh. 90 (apocryphal), but I'm not entirely convinced that's what it really is. Is there some way to double-check these things?

 

Never heard this one or its nickname, can't find it in my Oxford Composer Companion (which is very complete). It would not surprise me if this was spurious. If it's by JSB, sounds like it's very early.

Anyway, fun little, piece last minute.... it does not do to underestimate even a simple piece like this. It does rather sound like a last minute job. The slips don't bother so much, they will happen to us amateurs when playing live. But your articulation is sluggish. I am not sure how baroque organ playing is being thought in the USA, but here it would be played much lighter with more air between the notes. Legato is not generally considered a good thing in baroque organ music. The sound is rather boxy and thin. It would have been good to have some reverb, but then the legato playing would have made an awful mush of it.

Is this your regular organ ? Any chance of moving to a better sounding one ?

 

This was not the normal organ I would have played. In fact, the organ I was playing was under construction (lots of scheduling woes led to that development)!

Baroque music (at least in Southern California) is a mixed bag as far as playing and interpretation goes. The rule of thumb has been to play legato unless specifically written otherwise, or if the piece lends itself to that interpretation. That guards against having too much space in between notes and making it sound "poppy" (like popcorn).

 

A bit of a mystery composition, this one.... Best I could find is this on Sibeliusmusic.com.

I guess we won't get a BWV number and just have to put it in the Bach various page, with a notice it may not be by Bach (which is true for more pieces of course). However I would like you to consider re-recording it as it was a bit of a fluffy job, and that organ really does not sound very nice.

 

Agreed - Thanks for considering the recording despite its shortcomings. If the piece wasn't by Bach, I wonder who wrote it? Maybe it's like fan fiction, but the author used the name of the person they were modeling after. Though if I wrote a song worth half the fugue's musical value I'd want to take credit for it. But that's just me.

 

That we don't know. I don't believe anybody (especially after Bach) would have the guts to pass on something of their own as being by him. More likely it's one of these nameless 'gebrauchsmusik' pieces written by a collegue or pupil, which someone else then ascribed to Bach for lack of a better idea. Personally, I think this piece is wayyyy not good enough to be by Bach.

 

BTW - Chris R., do you have a pdf score for this little ditty ? If so, can I have a copy ? I have this crazy plan to record all of Bach's keyboard works so I'll eventually come around to this one (if I live that long, haha)

 

Really, Chris B., on that one, I'll have to quote Hipocrates:


Ὁ βίος βραχὺς,
ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρὴ,
ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξὺς,
ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερὴ,
ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή.

Or:

Life is short,
[the] art long,
opportunity fleeting,
experiment dangerous,
judgment difficult.



Here's the score, BTW, IMSLP had it: