Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552

Autograph of the prelude in E flat major

Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552 is an organ work by Johann Sebastian Bach .

Emergence

In 1739, Bach published a collection of organ works from the Nuremberg music engraver Balthasar Schmidt as the third installment of his keyboard exercise series . These are mainly chorale arrangements (BWV 669–689), some of which are written for a large organ and some for a small pedal-less instrument. This collection (sometimes referred to as the organ mass ) is framed by the prelude and fugue in E flat major. Both sections are overwritten with pro Organo pleno to indicate that a multi-manual organ with pedal is required for execution.

Prelude

The expansive, consistently five-part prelude, with its combination of full-grip, dotted, upper voice-accentuated and fugal passages, draws on the older type of prelude and fugue, cultivated primarily by Dietrich Buxtehude , in which toccata-like sections alternate with fugue parts in a single, wide-ranging form . It is thus similar to the Prelude in E flat major from Part I of the Well-Tempered Clavier , which also already contains a broad fugue and yet serves as an introduction to a separate fugue. On the other hand, through its gravely dotted first theme and the fast, fugal third theme, the prelude shows characteristics of the French overture .

Albert Schweitzer interpreted the three thematic complexes as symbols of the Trinity : The solemn theme, kept in dotted rhythm, represents God the Father , the second, ascending and descending Jesus Christ , and finally the third, which first descends an octave in sixteenth notes and then descends fan out the Holy Spirit . This interpretation is, however, speculative; contemporary sources that could make such a way of thinking plausible for Bach are not known. Rather, Schweitzer's interpretation of the Baroque period seems to be alien and to indicate its proximity to Richard Wagner's aesthetics .

Gap

The five-part fugue also resembles a triple fugue (i.e. a fugue with three themes), but dispenses with the concluding combination of all three themes in one sequence. Like the prelude, it has archaic features: in that the individual sections are in different time signatures and - possibly - their tempi cannot be traced back to a uniform basic beat, it falls back on older Ricercar principles . Like most of Bach's other fugue themes, the theme of the first section is not a late Baroque character theme either; rather, its neutral interval movements and its simple rhythmic shape are a feature of the older Ricercart themes of the 17th century.

Only the following two sections begin to develop independent movement. The second section, however, uses as a theme a not very individual sequence movement that belongs to the late Baroque language but is generally widespread within it. Only the theme of the third part, which is based on a sequence of fifths, shows sharper rhythmic outlines. The theme of the first section, which reappears towards the end of the second and the third in combination with the respective section theme, is thus surrounded by figures that are becoming more and more characteristic and are increasingly approaching Bach's presence.

Edits

• In 1813 Vincent Novello and Samuel Wesley performed the fugue with four hands. Wesley composed a free four-hand introduction for this.
• In 1890 Ferruccio Busoni transcribed the work for piano .
• In 1928 Arnold Schönberg arranged it for orchestra . At the premiere on November 10, 1929 in Berlin , Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , and one day later Anton Webern performed the work in Vienna .
• In 1946, Christopher Le Fleming created a version for two pianos in the brilliant piano style of the 19th century.

Audio samples

• Prelude to Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552 - Listen ^{? / i}
• Fugue from Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552 - Listen ^{? / i}

literature

• Albert Schweitzer: Johann Sebastian Bach. 1908. Reprint Breitkopf and Härtel, Wiesbaden, ISBN 3-7651-0034-X

Web links

• Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 552 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project

Individual evidence

1. ^ Albert Schweitzer: Johann Sebastian Bach. Leipzig 1908, 4th and 5th edition 1922, p. 255
2. ↑ Publishing catalog Butz-Verlag (PDF; 303 kB)
3. ↑ Johann Sebastian Bach - Prelude and fugue in E flat major for organ for orchestra - JS Bach: Prelude and fugue in E flat major for organ arranged for large orchestra by Arnold Schönberg auf schoenberg.at
4. ^ Maurice Hanson: The Pianists Guide to Transcriptions, Arrangements, and Paraphrases . Indiana University Press, 2001, p. 14