Being no Bach scholar myself, I'll say that if the great J.S. didn't write it, he certainly COULD have. It sounds very much like a number of his more boisterous pieces.
He could have. If he didn't, he should have. Having listened to all his organ works and chorales, I'd say if he did not write it perhaps his son-in-law Gottfried Johann Walter did.
We heard GJW's beautiful organ fugue on "Lord, Thee I Love" at the conclusion of Divine Service today.
My money is on GJW if JSB did not write it.
Now here's the really interesting thing. All accounts of Bach report that he played all his works virtually expressionless and motionless, that is, without any physical gesturing or expresion of emotion on his face. That was the style then.
They let the music do the performing. The grand, sweeping, exaggerated physical motions we see today, not required to play the instrument, or perform the piece, is something that apparently was not done in Bach's days.
Go Virgil indeed!
ReplyDeleteFor some infectious good fun (and some real organ virtuosity), check out Virgil Fox's live CD called "Heavy Organ".
Alas, it seems Bach scholars believe Bach did not write this one! Darn it.
ReplyDeleteI love it.
In fact, I picked up a cool digital version that I thought sounds really cool for my Wittenberg Trail page. You can download it from there for free.
The Fox version is a hoot! What a blast.
I think it does sound like Bach though. Any number of his chorale settings can be quite lively like this.
Being no Bach scholar myself, I'll say that if the great J.S. didn't write it, he certainly COULD have. It sounds very much like a number of his more boisterous pieces.
ReplyDeleteHe could have.
ReplyDeleteIf he didn't, he should have.
Having listened to all his organ works and chorales, I'd say if he did not write it perhaps his son-in-law Gottfried Johann Walter did.
We heard GJW's beautiful organ fugue on "Lord, Thee I Love" at the conclusion of Divine Service today.
My money is on GJW if JSB did not write it.
Now here's the really interesting thing. All accounts of Bach report that he played all his works virtually expressionless and motionless, that is, without any physical gesturing or expresion of emotion on his face. That was the style then.
They let the music do the performing. The grand, sweeping, exaggerated physical motions we see today, not required to play the instrument, or perform the piece, is something that apparently was not done in Bach's days.
Interesting, huh?
This, to me, is the ultimate proof that Orthodoxy is wrong. They don't have Bach. And they don't sing Lutheran chorales.
ReplyDeleteSo there, that settles it.