Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 538
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 is an organ piece by Johann Sebastian Bach . BWV 538 has the same title as the better-known Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 , but is often given the epithet Doric - the reason for this is the spelling without a general sign , which at first glance appears to be the Doric mode , which is unusual for D minor today suggests.
The two works are very different from each other musically. Similar to the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 562 , BWV 538 is almost monothematic. The Toccata begins with a motorized sixteenth-note motif that continues almost uninterrupted to the end, and contains unusually elaborate concertato effects. Bach even notices manual changes for the organist, an unusual procedure both for the time and for Bach's organ works.
The fugue , also in D minor, is long and complex and contains a rather archaic-sounding theme with distinctive syncopations and three jumps up in pure fourths. The strict contrapuntal development is only broken off in the last four bars, where the piece comes to an impressive end with a few massive chords above the organ point on the dominant. The joint of BWV 538 is very similar to the joint of BWV 540 . Both have an allabreve meter, both using themes from whole notes and syncopated half notes with a rhythm of constant eighth notes instead of the sixteenth notes found in most of Bach's fugues; both contain chromatisms, leads, and an uninterrupted sequence of topics and responses.
Audio samples
Jarle Fagerheim plays Bach
- Toccata : Michael Schneider on the organ of the Schleswig Cathedral (YouTube video)
- Toccata : Aarnoud de Groen at the organ of the Bethlehem Church, The Hague (YouTube video)
Web links
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Free download of BWV 538 recorded by James Kibbie on the 1736 Erasmus Bielfeldt organ in St. Wilhadi, Stade, Germany