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Start / The WTF Bach Podcast
The WTF Bach Podcast
Experience the music of Bach as you never have before.
91 avsnitt • Längd: 35 min • Månadsvis
Om podden
Experience the music of Bach as you never have before. For music lovers, to professional musicians, let WTF Bach guide your mind through a contrapuntal journey.
wtfbach.substack.com
The podcast The WTF Bach Podcast is created by Evan Shinners. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
Avsnitt
MiniSeries! 10: The Final Episode
18 februari 2025 |
19 min
UPDATE: One of my astute listeners pointed out that it is in fact Jones’ review of Butler’s work in Music & Letters, and the original work by Butler is this book. Thanks for the correction!
Don’t miss the end of this episode where I play three of Bach’s earlier settings of the same tune, BWVs 700, 701, & 738!
We finish our study of this late masterpiece by reading some scholarship on the two different versions Bach made of his canonic variations on Luther’s 1539 melody. Whereas Wolff suggests both versions could be ‘authentic,’ Gregory Butler reveals that he believes the Original Edition was a mistake— one that prompted the handwritten fair copy.
As for the signature in the augmented canon— the finale in the fair copy— it is first spelled out in bar 19. See the top line, G, F#, A, G#:
These are not the same notes, but it is the same shape as B-A-C-H. The line that imitates this upper line is moving at half its speed. Therefore, it must repeat the spelling twice as slow later in the piece. See how it is joined by an independent line of counterpoint, now singing out the signature in parallel 3rds:
Two signatures in two different final movements!
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MiniSeries! 9: Revisions Part Two
11 februari 2025 |
27 min
Today, as we did in episode 5 of this miniseries, we’ll examine the revisions Bach made from engraving copy to handwritten copy. This is an important view into the composer’s workshop, and unlike clear ameliorations between layers in his other works, the two versions of BWV 769 present a unique challenge in seeking the “best” version.
Changes like this (first beat, alto) are minute, yet fascinating:
(Top: engraving. Bottom: fair copy.) Bach made three revisions dealing with a similar leap of a fifth.
The most important revision in the inverted canon variation, is in this pedal line:
(Top: engraving. Bottom: fair copy.) Notice the ornament in the fair copy— we often see more ornaments in handwritten versions, but this is not consistently the case in this piece.
Heading over to the augmented canon, this revision (in the bottom line) seems to be the only one of major consequence:
(Top: engraving. Bottom: fair copy.) The need to change this canonic line stems from a revision Bach made 11 bars earlier— the lines being in augmentation with one another. Admire Bach’s brazenness as he changes what was D over B, to D over C#!
Here, as I mentioned, is a very early episode introducing the concept of Bach in revision:
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MiniSeries! 8: A Bachian Fractal
5 februari 2025 |
21 min
Show me a finale as densely packed with thematic material as this one. Here are the five bars — the only five bars — discussed in today’s episode. You might listen while looking at them:
Notice the finale comes in two stages, first diminution, then stretto. The signature in the final bar is noteworthy (though it should be mentioned that the letters are an addition by the editor.)
And here is a video of the Mandelbrot set fractal, as promised (with perfect background music:)
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MiniSeries! 7: Canon at MOVING Intervals
29 januari 2025 |
17 min
Have a look at this. This is Bach beginning a canon in inversion. The follower is a 6th below the leader:
(If you can’t see that the shapes are inversions, hold up a mirror — seriously!) Yet here, only a few bars later, the imitation seems to be at a different interval:
The follower is no longer a sixth below, but a third. How rare! And going on, something else:
(We’re looking at the lower two voices in this picture, the quarter notes.) We see the canonic imitation has shifted yet again, to the interval of a second. What is happening? Dare I say… W.T.F. Bach?
This type of composition is, I believe, completely unique. I’d love to see another example elsewhere in music. Bach writes the chorale melody four times, and in all four appearances, finds a different interval at which inverted imitation works.
The man’s capacity to combine a single shape with itself, to abstract the DNA of the smallest musical cell, to spin it, lengthen it, shrink it, to construct a world from a grain of sand; this is late Bach.
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MiniSeries! 6: A Sloth Canon
21 januari 2025 |
24 min
Imagine composing an ornate melody, then stretching it out so it moves twice as slow, and somehow when you layer the stretched version onto the original, they match up beautifully: One shape, two different speeds. This is what Bach has done in this canon (but he also made sure that the consequence of both lines also blends into the harmonic implications of the chorale melody, which must also past through both lines…)
Let’s see what our augmented canon looks like on the page. Here is the opening of the ‘quick’ line:
And now see the same shape, moving in augmentation:
Those images are from the print, which as I mentioned is in open-score, and particularly difficult to read. The left hand is on the 2nd and 4th lines, the pedal sandwiched between them on line 3, and, did I mentioned? Four different clefs. Have a look:
We’ve seen this type of composition before on the podcast. Here is the episode from Season One about the augmentation canon (as well as in inversion) from the Art of Fugue:
Stay tuned for the final variation!
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MiniSeries! 5: Canonic Revisions Part One
3 januari 2025 |
22 min
The subject of the last several episodes has been Bach’s canonic variations on a Christmas tune by Martin Luther himself. A major inquiry into this work is its existence in two versions: engraved and handwritten. The published version (for reasons explained in the episode) doesn’t fully solve the canonic lines, as seen here:
Notice how the notes of the bottom line don’t continue after the fifth note!
See two other canons, each with the comes omitted:
Variatio 2 omits the follower after only three notes, while the last image shows the second voice dropping out after two full bars.
Because of such condensed notation, a copy working out the solutions would be necessary for anyone wishing to play the work; Bach himself made one— and couldn’t stop himself from making very minor changes. Those intriguing revisions are the subject of this episode.
P.S. In the episode I mention that for time’s sake, I cut three revisions from our comparative study of the canon at the 7th. For reference, they are found below. The staves show the pedals and left hand, engraving copy on top, followed by the handwritten copy:
Bar 7:
Bar 13:
Bar 22:
P.P.S. I received a notification that the featured recording of Stravinsky conducting his own arrangement is banned in certain countries in which I have listeners. Pardon me if the sound drops out at the end of the episode! If this happens, you’ll have to look the piece up on your own: it can be found searching Stravinsky’s music under the title “Choral-Variationen” (or “Chorale Variations” in other languages) with either W83, K087, or BH-2629 as the catalogue number.
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MiniSeries! 4: Feet & LH, a 7th Apart
27 december 2024 |
19 min
Let’s delve into a third variation from Bach’s 1747 masterpiece, “Some canonic variations on the Christmas song, ‘From Heaven Above’ for the organ with two keyboards and pedal, by J.S. Bach.”
Two versions of this piece exist: the ‘fair copy’ and the ‘publication’ (Stichfassung), which present the variations in a different order. In this episode, we follow the publication, where the canon at the 7th appears as the third variation.
The previous two variations featured canons between right and left hands, while the pedals carried the slow moving chorale melody. This variation introduces something new: a canon between the pedals and left hand. On that page that looks like this:
Above those two lines, the right hand plays a quick-flowing accompaniment marked cantabile, but the chorale melody is missing…
Note the rest up top, and the downward-facing stems on all the notes. This implies a second voice is coming: the Christmas melody sung in half notes.
Together, the two voices of the right hand, combined with the canon between the pedals and the left hand, create a four-voice texture— the previous variations were in three voices. As we’ve seen in his other late canonic works, Bach will gradually increase the complexity of the canonic treatment toward the finale.
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Is Pachelbel's Canon Really a Canon?
20 december 2024 |
17 min
I never knew the authentic version of the world’s most famous canon, having only known arrangements which conceal the fact that the music is indeed a canon in three voices. Here is what the ‘real’ canon looks like:
It continues for over 50 bars as a three voice canon at the unison. In my brief survey of this piece, I found one theory that suggests the 9-year-old J.S. Bach was in attendance at the first performance in history.
While the canonic treatment is clever and not worthy of our loathing— we blame its ill fate on others— Bach’s contributions to the genre outshine this example. We continue with Bach’s canonic art in the next episodes.
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MiniSeries! 3: A Canon At The Fifth
17 december 2024 |
16 min
Continuing our mini-series exploring Bach’s canonic variations on the Christmas song, ‘Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her’ BWV 769, we listen to the second canon: a canon at the perfect fifth.
Here is what the initial shape looks like in the right hand:
So the same shape must be imitated down the perfect fifth. It appears like this in the left hand:
I briefly mention the difference between ‘tonal’ and ‘real’ answers. Although the majority of the imitating line appears a perfect fifth below the leader, several accidentals are changed to keep the overall tonality. Hence Bach here gives us a ‘real answer.’ (I.e. where the F# and G# appear in the left hand, find the corresponding notes in the right hand, note the resulting intervals are diminished fifths, not perfect.)
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MiniSeries! 2: Divine Row Row Row Your Boat
7 december 2024 |
19 min
The first variation in these late variations for organ, is a canon at the octave. The two hands, each on a separate keyboard, play the same shape, one octave apart, while the feet provide the chorale melody. It looks like this:
Those are the first three measures of 18 measures. That’s right: the shape is imitated note for note for 18 bars! If you’re having trouble seeing that the two upper lines are in fact the same melody, one octave apart, try this image:
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MiniSeries! 1: Bach's Christmas Puzzles
28 november 2024 |
21 min
In this first of several related episodes, we will learn about Bach’s late contrapuntal masterpiece, the Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her, BWV 769.
The variations— although certainly not as familiar— should be considered alongside Bach’s other late achievements, the Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue, and A Musical Offering. They employ many similar ideas and highlight the composers uncanny ability to ‘squeeze water from a stone,’ making elaborate pieces with minimal material.
This first episode discusses the origins of the chorale melody and for what purpose Bach used this piece.
Drop me a note to tell me if you like this shorter episode length. Are you the type of listener who loves the hour long podcast? Or did this fit into your schedule better?
I mention the title page:
And the Wikipedia link to the chorale melody: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vom_Himmel_hoch,_da_komm_ich_her
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Bach Pulls Out His Dagger.
18 november 2024 |
30 min
Since I was a child I’ve known the story of Bach pulling out a blade. What really happened? In this short episode, I read the contemporary reports from the Arnstadt Consistory Court, where this famous fisticuffs was first recorded.
About halfway through the episode (14 minutes), I’ve given you some “chill” chorales, played over a drone. One of my listeners mentioned they wanted some Bach for doing yoga/meditation, so this is what I came up with. If you like the way it sounds, I’ll put a full hour-long track on Spotify for all my Bach enthusiast yogis.
Meanwhile, stay tuned for some cool episodes coming up during the holiday season.
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The Urtext Illusion: Textual Variance in Bach's "Aria Variata" BWV 989
31 oktober 2024 |
54 min
Last week I posted this piece on YouTube:
The most intriguing part of studying this piece was the overwhelming amount of differences between the three earliest sources of this work. Here is a list of the sources I reference in the episode , the copyists, and when they were made:
The ‘Andreas Bach Book’ (D-LE III.8.4) J. Christoph Bach; copyist, between 1705-1714
P 801 J. Tobias Krebs; copyist, between 1710-1717
P 804 J. Peter Kellner; copyist, before 1725
In the episode I simply refer to these as Andreas Bach, Krebs, and Kellner.
You will hear a great amount of textual variation between these sources. Part of any performer’s job of playing music from Bach’s era includes combing through sources, determining how and why certain discrepancies appear. In the Aria Variata, however, the discrepancies are inconsistent— and perplexing.
My current understanding of source tradition hasn’t led me to any conclusion, but were I bold enough to take a stab, I’d guess Andreas Bach is the most accurate source, Kellner made a very sloppy copy from which Krebs copied. Kellner’s copy is full of corrections, but these were probably entered at a later date, and Krebs didn’t get the memo. A taste of what this looks like:
That is Kellner’s copy. Notice the ornaments. Compare to Krebs:
Both have an E-flat in on the downbeat of the third bar (all three sources in this episode use soprano clef on top). Now here is Andreas Bach:
D-sharp in bar three! Also, the ornamentation is fuller.
There are many other details in the episode, so please, enjoy! Here are more images to stimulate your fancy:
Krebs’ wavy hand.
Kellner making mistakes, corrected by— whom? Kellner himself?
The baffling passage in variation 4 in Andreas Bach. Notice what look like erasures on some of the notes.
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Passion Music for His Son: The F Minor Sinfonia, BWV 795
9 oktober 2024 |
34 min
Yes, that recording at the end is none other than Jascha Heifetz with Primrose and Piatigorksy, who apparently recorded three of the sinfonias. The wonderful pianist with that golden sound playing before the string trio arrangement is (I think!) Marcelle Meyer recorded sometime around 1948.
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Today’s episode focuses on the ‘black pearl’ of the inventions and sinfonias. The f minor sinfonia is highly complex piece of passion music embedded within a seemingly innocent collection of music intended for the beginner. Here, rather than the more typical obligato upper voices with the bass occasionally joining in with a theme here and there, the f minor sinfonia relies on convertible counterpoint where all three voices are judged— and juggled— equally. Bach shows us this technique using different themes:
A lament bass:
Musical crosses:
And a wildly avant-garde motif, which I refer to as the wailing motif:
Writing certainly exists on these three motifs seen as “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” Not for any particular reason, I refrain from making such an analogy in this episode.
As mentioned in the episode, Bach changed some of the enharmonics when transfering the piece from the Notebook for W.F. Bach into the Aufrichtige Anleitung. Here are some examples:
The E-double-flat (middle voice) in the notebook for his son:
is later changed to a D natural:
The B-double-flat in the top voice in the previous examples remain, but Bach will change the spelling in the bass voice of the same note (again, in the notebook:)
to an A natural:
There are a few other similar changes throughout.
Thanks for listening! Have you told your high-school band teacher you’re super into Bach?
N.B. My substack is about 1 year old, and in that time I released some 27 episodes and three essays. Should you decide to become a paid subscriber, that’s less than 3 dollars an episode (paying per year: about $3.70 paying per month.) Your contribution ensures the existence of this podcast. I really couldn’t— and wouldn’t be able to— continue devoting the time without your support. Thank you.
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Fantasy & Fugue in C minor BWV 537
25 september 2024 |
47 min
Becoming familiar with Bach’s music is a never-ending process. First, there is the initial reading, which alone can occupy many happy years. What’s remarkable is that with each further reading, you’re astonished by the details you missed before—quite honestly amazed. You ask yourself: Where—or even who—was I during those earlier readings? You begin to measure your growth as a musician against the depth with which you can now understand the pieces.
One fugue, which I initially read with little interest, is the one featured in this episode: BWV 537. Suddenly, I’m struck by its raw power and its structural reliance on a chromatic line. Now that it has revealed itself to me, it will forever remain a favorite. I hope to share with you a glimpse of this experience in today’s episode.
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Anyone Else Getting Married?
8 september 2024 |
41 min
In this episode, we’ll explore Bach’s constant involvement with weddings. Weddings and funerals occupied a weekly place in Bach’s life in Leipzig and we’ll shed light on the various ways in which he was involved musically.
[I forgot to credit the last recording in this episode to Rudolph Lutz and the J.S. Bach foundation.]
Here are (some of) the beautiful parts which make up the chorales, BWVs 250-252. They are beautiful examples of Bach’s handwriting ca. 1730. Note that all three chorales are on the same page.
Soprano:
Alto:
Tenor:
Bass:
And the second horn part I fondly discuss in this episode:
All the parts are viewable at:
https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002475
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The 3rd Keyboard Partita (A Crucial Revision)
12 augusti 2024 |
22 min
A brief(er) episode for you today: Bach’s first published opus was his six partitas for keyboard. In some of the sources within Bach’s circle, copies retained as a ‘Handexemplar’ include revisions by a scribe we can almost say with certainty is Bach himself. The most consequential of these revisions appears at the end of the third partita, where the second half of the Gigue is re-written with what one might call ‘updated’ or ‘refined’ counterpoint.
Here we see the main source (G 25) in question:
Hard to see here, but if we zoom in, we see that this:
Is a correction of the original printings, which read:
This link here should allow you to download the original print of all six partitas.
N.B. As that link is the download of the original print, it will not contain any of the corrections mentioned in this episode. For a full list of the scholarship on these changes, see:
Wolff, C. (1999). Text-critical comments on the original print of the Partitas. In Bach: Essays on his life and music (pp. 214-222). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Performer's Commentary, Vol. 3
4 augusti 2024 |
53 min
The final performer’s commentary episode for you. This is live commentating (the program notes of the future) on the last of my three simultaneous releases. This album is a bunch of preludes and fugues— some maybe you know, some maybe you don’t.
You can stream and individually purchase any track including the performer’s commentary from the third volume below. [More streaming links (including youtube playlists) at the bottom:]
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The first three albums of the 'Complete Works for Solo Keyboard' are live everywhere. Stream while sleeping to achieve maximum effect.
Volume One:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4xneak6r
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
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No One Ever Erected a Statue to a Critic (Bach vs. Scheibe)
26 juli 2024 |
36 min
Johann Adolph Scheibe went down in history for attacking Bach’s “turgid and confused” style.
“…from the natural to the artificial, and from the lofty to the obscure ... one wonders at the painful labor of it all, that nevertheless comes to nothing, since it is at variance with reason.”
Let’s examine the controversy from the beginning.
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Volume One:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4xneak6r
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
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Mi Fa, et Fa Mi est tota musica (BWV 1078)
7 juli 2024 |
33 min
On March 1, 1749, Bach penned the following into a Stammbuch:
Today’s episode covers this canon in depth. What does it mean? How does it sound?
Here is a link to the article by scholar, Anatoly Milka.
The book, Bach and the meaning of Counterpoint, by David Yearsley is available here.
How To Support This Podcast:
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The first three albums of the 'Complete Works for Solo Keyboard' are live everywhere. Stream while sleeping to make me a millionaire.
Volume One:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4xneak6r
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Performer's Commentary, Vol. 2
26 juni 2024 |
38 min
Another performer’s commentary episode for you. If you’ve missed out on the second of my three simultaneous releases, you’ll have a chance to listen to it here, with my live commentary.
You can stream and individually purchase any track including the performer’s commentary from the second volume here. —More streaming links (including youtube playlists) at the bottom:
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
The first three albums of the 'Complete Works for Solo Keyboard' are live everywhere. Stream while sleeping to achieve maximum effect.
Volume One:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4xneak6r
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Bach's Puzzle Canons (Yes, Please.)
9 juni 2024 |
30 min
Thanks for your feedback on the last few episodes. I’ve gathered my listeners enjoy piecing together musical cells in their minds, so today’s episode will bring you more of that.
The eight surviving canons, BWVs 1072-1078 (+BWV deest) were written on small pieces of paper or penned into registry books. Their compact content, usually only a few notes, is then ‘solved:’ copied and transformed to make a perpetual piece of music in several voices.
You will hear the solutions in the episode. Here is how they appear on the page:
This is the first canon discussed. From these two measures of music, eight voices are formed.
This is the second canon discussed: a four-voice canon with each voice entering a successive fifth higher than the last. It’s the four clefs at the beginning of the line that clue you in on this. The %-like symbol shows you where the next voice enters.
This is BWV 1074, the mysterious ‘Houdemann’ canon. Note the four clefs on the left of the staff, but also the four clefs to the right. They are inverted with a different key signature. Bach here was exploring the a truly symmetrical— not merely diatonic— inversion.
The final canon of the episode. The charming two-voice canon for one of his Godchildren. This canon is simple to solve and the easiest to comprehend.
Yes, the famous F-A-B-E-R, “mi fa, et fa mi est tota musica” canon will be in one of the next episodes— rest assured!
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
The first three albums of the 'Complete Works for Solo Keyboard' are live everywhere. Stream while sleeping to achieve maximum effect.
Volume One:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4xneak6r
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Performer's Commentary, Vol. 1
26 maj 2024 |
47 min
If you miss those DVDs with the optional director’s commentary, you’re going to enjoy this episode.
Each album in my ‘J.S. Bach Complete Solo Keyboard Works’ will be accompanied by this type of work, my commentating as the music plays.
You can stream (and individually purchase) any track including the performer’s commentary from the first album here:
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
The first three albums of the 'Complete Works for Solo Keyboard' are live everywhere. Stream while sleeping to achieve maximum effect.
Volume One:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/4xneak6r
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
What Did Bach's Business Card Sound Like?
12 maj 2024 |
49 min
You know that portrait of Bach holding a little scrap of music? Ever wonder what the piece was? What it sounded like?
That piece of paper is a six-voice, triple canon: number thirteen in the fourteen additional canons found on the back of Bach’s personal copy of the Goldberg Variations. (Analysis of that specific canon around 32 min.)
We’ve covered nine of these puzzling pieces in three previous episodes, but now it’s time to call it a wrap on all fourteen. These additional canons were discovered only as late as the 1970s. For a more detailed history, check the three previous episodes dealing with these canons:
Here is the image of the canon, “Christ will Crown the Cross-bearers” that appears in the family registry book belonging to J.G. Fulde:
And of course, Bach and his “business card:”
The bass line in both the images (and in all of the canons) is our beloved “first eight fundamental notes of the preceding aria” on which all the canons are based.
Be sure to get my forthcoming three albums on PRESALE before they go live on May 17th!
Volume One:
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Three Albums on Presale Today! (Ever Dance With a Double?)
24 april 2024 |
31 min
ALBUMS ON PRESALE TODAY! BUY THE ALBUMS HERE!
Volume One:
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mr44kwmf
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3e4kwnsb
As for the music covered today, we will hear Doubles layered over their preceding dance movements. A Double is an elaboration on the preceding movement, where the melody is quickened— often twice as quickly. The harmonic structure of the Double and its preceding movement is the same, allowing for one to play both movements at the same time with very interesting results.
Pieces studied:
Sarabande and Double from Sixth English Suite, BWV 811
Gigue and Double from the c minor lute suite, BWV 997
Partita in b minor for solo violin, BWV 1002
People/places mentioned:
Burp Castle at 41 East 7th Street in the East Village of Manhattan (between 2nd Ave & Cooper Square).
Paul Spring (guitarist)
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
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Some NEWS (and a Cantata...)
10 april 2024 |
32 min
Thanks for all your support during The Bach Store! If you’re in NYC on Friday, come to Le Poisson Rouge at 158 Bleecker Street at 7pm.
Be sure to mark your calendars: April 24th, 2024, my new albums will be on PRE-sale. It marks the beginning of my most ambitious project to date: a very thorough, if possible, ‘complete’ set of the keyboard works of Bach. I will certainly send another reminder as the date approaches.
And now for a brief journey into Bach around this date in 1724: today’s episode covers the cantata for the second Sunday after Easter, BWV 104, Du Hirte Israel, höre. Unlike the other cantatas I have recently discussed, this cantata is not based on a chorale melody.
And don’t miss out on your WTF Bach merchandise! Here are seven magnets for your fridge. Send me a note to arrange a sale (T-Shirts, Pins, Bags, 3D Printed Heads, Lighters, also available).
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Bach Store is BACK! (+ Bach at 15 yrs. old)
6 mars 2024 |
26 min
You read correctly: The Bach Store is back. In Erfurt, Thuringia, the state from where the Bachs hail. I will play for five hours, March 14-28, 12.00-18.00 GMT +1 (7AM-1PM EST.)
You can (hopefully) stream the whole run on my youtube. Subscribe HERE.
Or go to: www.youtube.com/@wtfbach
Here is the latest video I mentioned in the podcast.
Bach Store Merchandise is available on request. Send an email to bach (at) wtfbach (dot com)
—
Meanwhile, the music in today’s episode comes from the “Neumeister Collection,” a collection of over 80 chorale preludes from multiple composers, published for the first time in 1985. More than 30 of the pieces come from J.S. Bach ca. 1700, when the composer was only 15 year old. Hence one of the newest Bach discoveries showed us the youngest portraits of the composer. I played three of them, one on a ‘real’ organ (Saint Anne’s, London) and two on Organteq (by Modartt.)
—
How To Support This Podcast:
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Introducing: The Flute!
24 februari 2024 |
51 min
This week I’ll be performing some flute chamber music in Santa Barbara, California. I realize I’ve never specifically mentioned Bach’s wonderful flute repertoire on this podcast.
We tackle here what I find is the most complex composition in the repertoire: the first movement of the b minor sonata, BWV 1030.
Pieces heard:
BWV 1030.1 Source P. 1008, early version, harpsichord part.
BWV 1030.2 The later version, arranged as a flute sonata.
Articles:
Contentious writing on flute vs. recorder
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Two More Cantatas (1724, Part 3)
14 februari 2024 |
43 min
This is the final episode introducing Bach’s cantata cycle of 1724. In the first four cantatas of the cycle, we heard how Bach used Lutheran hymnal melodies as cantus firmi in different voice parts in each opening movement (sopranos, followed by altos, followed by tenors, followed by basses.)
Here, the next two cantatas see less predictable treatments of the old melodies. Bach evidently valued these two cantatas, as later in life he arranged single movements from both BWV 10 and BWV 93 into his publication of organ music known as the “Schübler Chorales.”
Pieces heard:
BWV 10, Meine Seel erhebt den Herren (Full Performance of the cantata)
BWV 648, Meine Seel erhebt den Herren (Organ version)
BWV 93, Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten
Check out WTF Bach’s Youtube!
New videos to start appearing soon.
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Check this playlist:
I mentioned this playlist in the episode: all the cantatas in the 1724 cycle. Love to my fans!
The book I mentioned on the use of ‘Tonus Peregrinus”
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bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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2024. An Important Bach Year (Part Two)
20 januari 2024 |
46 min
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)
Oh, you don’t follow WTFBach on Instagram? For shame!
Posting almost daily music from the keyboard repertoire.
We Need Your Support!
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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bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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2 minutes: P.D.Q. R.I.P.
18 januari 2024 |
3 min
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!)
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!)
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Why Is 2024 An Important Bach Year?
6 januari 2024 |
40 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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My Mini Concert for You
24 december 2023 |
22 min
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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The First Double Fugue in History
15 december 2023 |
41 min
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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Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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I Play Bach's Table of Ornaments
3 december 2023 |
20 min
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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Bach and the Golden Ratio.
8 november 2023 |
55 min
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
Support us:
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bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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Bach's Most Joyful Piece? (Chorale Preludes x2)
25 oktober 2023 |
53 min
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
P.S. This is the first episode released on the new substack website- please shout if you experience problems!
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Introducing: The Chorale! Chorale Preludes, Four-Part Chorales, &c.
1 oktober 2023 |
56 min
--
I AM STARTING A SUBSTACK SOON SO JOIN THE FUN:
--
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
--
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.
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
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bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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The Crab Canon Isn’t a Möbius Strip. (BWV 1087 Canons Part THREE)
26 juli 2023 |
27 min
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.
--
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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Ideas? Wanna sponsor an episode?
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bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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Special Guest: Joshua Rifkin. One Voice Per Part
11 juli 2023 |
45 min
Finally! The influential Joshua Rifkin guests on the WTF Bach Podcast.
Rifkin made Bach fame with his groundbreaking (and controversial!) theory that Bach’s vocal works (and other 17th & 18th century) composers’ works were sung with only one singer per part. He recorded the b minor mass, several cantatas, and other Bach works in this format.
We spoke for almost three hours about ragtime, the Beatles, PDQ Bach (my distant uncle), even crossword puzzles, coffee and meditation. For this episode, though, I culled it quite severely to only that which deals with Bach’s music.
It’s fascinating to hear him talk about his scholastic endeavors dealing with first-hand examination of source material. Do you agree with Rifkin? Do you like the sound of one singer per part?
- -
Follow Evan's instagram, because... well... it's the only one you should follow.
- -
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
--
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or... anything... anything at all?
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Casals, Rostropovich... più allegro (Cello Suites!)
22 juni 2023 |
41 min
Q: What if those really slow interpretations of the cello suites from the 30s and 50s could be sped up?
A: Exactly.
https://www.jsbachcellosuites.com - check out this website! It's a great source on the history of the recordings of these pieces.
Thanks for all your feedback, donations, ideas, everything. Please follow @wtfbach on instagram for (almost) daily Bach content.
We thank YOU for supporting us!
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50th Episode! A LIVE Lecture Sponsored by Tonebase
8 juni 2023 |
61 min
Thanks for supporting us through 50 episodes!
What makes Bach, BACH?!
As a special celebration, the 50th episode of The WTF Bach Podcast is a live lecture presented by Tonebase.
The topic is the ever looming one: why is Bach's importance so great? Studying the ideas behind a few of his instrumental collections, we see that Bach's ideas are always expanding outward, perhaps lending to his all-pervasive influence.
Learn more about Tonebase.
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The (Other) Goldberg Canons BWV 1087 (Part 2)
2 maj 2023 |
20 min
EPISODE TWO:
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.
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Ideas? Wanna sponsor an episode?
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
What is Chromaticism? (Albinoni Fugues)
19 april 2023 |
27 min
I was recently asked to explain chromaticism, so I thought I'd give it a try here.
Bach's fugue based on a theme by Tomaso Albinoni in B minor, BWVs 951, and 951a: the subject itself contains a chromatic descent (B, A#, A, G#, G, F#) and though Albinoni himself wrote it, it was Bach who brought the ideas behind such chromaticism to the next level.
HERE is the recording which I was not able to credit. If you know whose recording this is, please write me, I'll fix it!
and HERE is the version (BWV 951, not BWV951a) which I played on the MIDI harpsichord, highlighting the chromatic lines on one of my favorite youtube channels.
As always, thank you for your support, your feedback, your passion! -es
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The (Other) Goldberg Canons BWV 1087 (Part 1)
14 mars 2023 |
20 min
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 introduce the history, the idea behind the canons and the first four canons.
Here is what they look like as seen on the back of Bach's own copy:
and here are the Handel variations on the Chaccone of which I speak in this episode:
https://youtu.be/X_Lp9ZWWI-Q?t=73
Support us:
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Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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An Encyclopedia and a Fugue
25 februari 2023 |
32 min
This episode was inspired by my recent discovery and purchase of an Encyclopedia Britannica. It's a fascinating collection of knowledge and I highly recommend finding some volumes and reading them. This is the Bach article appearing in the EB from as early as 1926 even until the 1960s, written by D.F. Tovey.
We also listen to fugue BWV 959, very early, very wild, very W.T.F. in unequal temperament.
More episodes on the way! Spread the love!
--
LINKS:
The text of the Borges story I mentioned
Donald Francis Tovey (author of the article I read)
The archived scan of a 1926 Encyclopedia Britannica volume containing, "Bach, J.S.
Homepage of the EB: https://www.britannica.com
--
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What’s a Pythagorean Comma? (Introduction to Temperament)
18 december 2022 |
39 min
More than simply, “in tune” or “out of tune” a temperament is a solution to the ancient problem of creating a circle out of a spiral. By the time Bach had his shake at this problem, the musical world had advanced far enough, setting the stage for his great mind to create a well-tempered solution that allowed him to compose in all 24 keys. Not all keys sound the same in the vast majority of temperaments, in fact, in only our modern equal-tempered one do we find all keys equal. Does our insistence on this system destroy the whole point of temperament? Or is it the most perfect arrangement of tones?
Plus:
-Actually listen to a pythagorean comma, the root of the problem...
-The circle of (pure) fifths
-Bach chorales in different temperaments
-The Art of Fugue, 6th fugue in a funky temperament
Try the frequencies experiment yourself!
Pull up multiple windows on: https://onlinetonegenerator.com
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The Prelude in C, BWV846: New versions, Inverted harmonies and more!
20 november 2022 |
43 min
How much more famous can music be than that one Prelude in C?
The Prelude BWV 846, the first prelude in the Well-Tempered Clavier, is heard everywhere, but why? How? What purpose could such a piece have served in Bach's day?
We discuss two early, shorter versions of the prelude, and one erroneous version with an inauthentic bar (the 'Schwenke measure' - be on the look out if your copy has 36 bars and not 35!)
Answering, "How has this prelude influenced musicians even today?" we explore modern versions by John K. Stone, Elaine Comparone, my challenge to Brad Mehldau, and invert this prelude (and a few others) note for note to hear the 'photo negative'.
Links:
'Jesu Joy' in a Japanese Forest (Cell Phone Ad)
John K. Stone's 'Fantasy on a Bach Prelude'
Elaine Comparone's version of the same prelude
As always: Thank you for listening!
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What is Bach’s Longest Piece? (And his Shortest?)
6 november 2022 |
25 min
It started with an Instagram Post, but like all questions about Bach, to answer the question of Bach's 'longest' piece required posing further questions:
Longest how? Minutes? In terms of Measures? In terms of the longest single piece on a concert? ...wait, what is a 'piece' anyhow? Does one of the passions count as a single piece? What about just the amount of notes?
You may be surprised to hear the answers... or maybe you've know the answer in your heart of hearts all along.
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Cantata 147 (Listener’s Choice Part Two)
23 oktober 2022 |
60 min
A brief analysis of Cantata 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV147. Such a large piece of music, it gets it own episode. Will I continue to devote episodes to the cantatas? Read the bottom of the description.
The work is famous for, if nothing else, the two chorales that we know as 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.' As it was suggested by a listener, this is part two of the previous listener's choice episode.
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People or Music mentioned:
Rudolph Lutz
Joshua Rifkin
Robert Bridges (English poet laureate)
Wendy Carlos
Lady Lynda (Song by The Beach Boys)
Myra Hess
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Thank you to each of you who donate to these episodes:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
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WTF Bach and the Cantatas:
These are daunting pieces with very complicated histories, hence the delay in getting this episode to you. As is the case with all research, one has to be rather careful before making even the simplest of statements about a piece of Bach. The cantatas are largely orchestrated pieces as well, for many instruments, which makes a 'dissection' of such a piece much more difficult. Due to their numerous sections, they are often longer in length compared to a prelude and fugue or many other instrumental pieces. For many (if not most) people who enjoy Bach, their 'ignorance' of his music usually falls somewhere within the cantatas.
This is all to say, on a personal note, that while creating this episode, I spent some five times longer than I normally would. I enjoyed doing this as everyone needs to brush up on the cantatas, still, as I always love hearing from you, send me a note: let me know if you want more episodes on the cantatas and I will find a way to make these episodes come quicker. As always, sincerely, -e
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Listener’s Choice, Part One of Two: You asked, I talked.
10 oktober 2022 |
47 min
SPOILER ALERT! I split this episode into TWO! The NEXT episode will cover cantata BWV147 exclusively.
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To begin your week! Three pieces you requested were:
Toccata in g minor BWV915
Allabreve in D major BWV589
Cantata BWV147 (NEXT EPISODE!)
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Please enjoy my brief analysis of these pieces which, in their own right, could take up many episodes each, and THANK YOU for suggesting I cover them. Please keep your suggestions coming!
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Bach's Music Floating in Outer Space
Performers featured today were, in order:
Trevor Pinnock
Christine Schornsheim
Ton Koopman
Simon Preston
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Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
What Was the Only Non-British Music at the Queen’s Funeral?
20 september 2022 |
28 min
It was brought to my attention that, yesterday, at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, there was only one non-Biritsh piece of music included. It was of course penned by our beloved J.S. Bach, whose inclusion in the royal festivities made an impression on me.
The piece was this gorgeous fantasy for organ BWV 562, discussed in this episode. Enjoy!
The unfinished harpsichord fugue discussed by me
Marie-Claire Alain's performance of BWV 562
Martin Lücker's performance of BWV 562
I know I said this last time but for real this time:
NEXT EPISODE IS LISTENER'S CHOICE- SEND ME YOUR SUGGESTIONS
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What Did Bach Have for Dinner May 3, 1716? (And Other Documents...)
4 september 2022 |
21 min
This week I chose to read experts from the 'New Bach Reader', a compilation book of documents from Bach's life or shortly thereafter. These documents are sometimes letters, receipts, or newspaper notices, but might be a dinner bill for an inn where Bach stayed, or his candid thoughts on singers. I highly recommend this book. Find it here.
NEXT EPISODE IS LISTENER'S CHOICE- SEND ME THE PIECE YOU WANT: Bach (at) WTFBACH (dot com)
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Four Chances to Hear Bach Differently (MIDI and Musical ’Unbias’ Examples)
7 augusti 2022 |
18 min
Last Episode WTF Bach explained how computers, using MIDI, could help us understand Bach in a unique way.
Here then, is a brief episode of four Bach MIDI files, played with very basic computer operations (quantized 16th notes, panning between speakers, mechanical slowing down and speeding up).
It's likely you've never heard Bach in this way before. The question therefore is, 'Did you learn something?'
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How can computers illuminate Bach? (MIDI and Musical ‘unbias’)
24 juli 2022 |
24 min
How can computers help us understand Bach? What is MIDI?
In this episode we learn how MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files, that is, a sort of sheet-music for computers, can help us explore Bach’s music in modern and novel ways.
If you don’t read music or play an instrument, MIDI files might be your way into Bach’s mind. Even if you are a virtuoso Bachian, there will be something in MIDI technology that can help you uncover further details throughout Bach’s most fascinating constructions.
Dave (of Dave's J.S. Bach page) talks about the 'art of MIDI'
My album featuring 'panning' between two upper voices in Bach
Three links to Bach MIDI files:
1) https://www.midiworld.com/bach.htm
2) http://www.jsbach.net/midi/
3) https://www.kunstderfuge.com/bach.htm
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And let us know how we are doing, Bach (at) WTFBACH (dot com)
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The Brandenburg Fifth: A New Way of Hearing It (Part 2)
10 juli 2022 |
30 min
Two episodes ago we covered the first movement of the fifth Brandenburg concerto up to the famous harpsichord cadenza. In this episode we look at the two existing versions of the famous cadenza: an early version a mere 18 measures, and the the famous one, more than three times as long.
Glenn Gould’s video mentioned is here:
Ton Koopman’s featured live performance is here:
And the film in which Leonhardt himself plays Bach (The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach) is here:
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Did Bach Compose the Sixth Brandenburg to Get Fired? (History of the Brandenburg Concerti)
26 juni 2022 |
32 min
In this episode, we will look at:
The genesis of the Brandenburg concerti,
What Bach’s job was like when these compositions came about,
Who his employer was then,
How much music Bach was composing at that time,
Why a Baroque composer writes anything at all,
The difference between a modern composer and one in the Baroque.
Then finally, we will disprove another famous Bach myth:
‘Bach composed the last of the Brandenburg concerti to get fired’
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**PS: Any of my listeners want to start correcting some of the Wikipedia pages with Bach BS (Bad Scholarship) and linking the sources to these episodes? Write me (email below)
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I love my listener feedback! Keep it coming! Bach (at) WTFBACH (dot com)
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The Brandenburg Fifth: A New Way of Hearing It (Part 1)
12 juni 2022 |
37 min
This episode and the next two will cover the first movement of the fifth ‘Brandenburg’ concerto, BWV1050, a concerto for solo flute, violin and harpsichord.
The recording featured in this episode is Il Giardino Armonico (probably my favorite recording of all six Brandenburg Concerti). This is the YouTube link.
Thank you for your emails, your donations and your suggestions. Keep ‘em coming Bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
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Season TWO! Announcing The Bach Store in GERMANY (and BWV1001 & BWV539...)
21 mars 2022 |
42 min
GUESS WHO'S BACK? BACK AGAIN?
THE BACH STORE is in GERMANY March25-April8. Stream it here:
Let's kick off this season discussing the fugue for violin in G minor BWV1001, and its arrangement for Organ BWV539. There is also one for lute (perhaps lute harpsichord) BWV1000.
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Links to music played in this episode:
Robert Hill arranges the Adagio
Email me at Bach at WTFBACH dot com
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That‘s a Wrap on The Art of Fugue. (Season one finale 2/2!)
6 december 2021 |
38 min
So! We've done it: Looked in depth at every fugue, every canon, solved the mysteries, busted the myths, sent the Bach heretics back to whence they came. And now? Let's just enjoy...
Topics covered:
The golden sections in other Bach pieces and how this could help us find the golden section here, even in this fugal fragment.
'God the Father' 'God the Spirit' 'God the Son' as three themes.
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THE LAST PAGE ! CLICK HERE to see the 'corrupt' staves on which it would have been impossible to complete such a dense fugue. **Note the staff three from the bottom**
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Koopman playing the B-flat minor, book two
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The 14th Fugue in The Art of Fugue. (Season one finale 1/2!)
19 november 2021 |
39 min
This is the final fugue of The Art of Fugue, the famous 'unfinished' fugue, number 14. We discuss how one could have understood this fugue to have been unfinished in earlier periods in musical history (it was finished) and what exactly is missing.
THE LAST PAGE ! CLICK HERE to see the 'corrupt' staves on which it would have been impossible to complete such a dense fugue. **Note the staff three from the bottom**
Topics covered:
B+A+C+H = 14
B-A-C-H as a melody and fugue subject.
Where the missing, 4th theme, comes in this quadruple fugue.
The final combination of all four themes and its 'note for note' inversion as mentioned in Bach's obituary of 1754.
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Special Guest: Christoph Wolff. What else can we learn about Bach?
25 oktober 2021 |
42 min
Guest Interview: Christoph Wolff, Former Head of the Bach Archive in Leipzig.
I had the privilege of speaking to Christoph Wolff, certainly the most distinguished Bach scholar of the 20th century, even until today. From Jimi Hendrix to Rudolph Serkin, from the music Bach's composed which is lost, to the famous "Seal of 1722", this interview has it all folks. Take a listen!
Browse Mr. Wolff's Books Here:
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People / Topics Covered:
Albert Schweitzer (His Bach biography, Volume 1)
Bach's Handexemplar of the Goldberg Variations
Other composers Bach performed: Palestrina, Frescobaldi, Froberger, Buxtehude, Handel, Porpura, Pergolesi
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Bonus: Dictated in Blindness on his Deathbed? The Original Printed Conclusion to The Art of Fugue?
21 oktober 2021 |
27 min
This is the eighth bonus episode.
Was Bach dictating this? Blind? On his deathbed?
Printed as the original conclusion to The Art of Fugue, "Wenn wir im höchsten Nöten sein" was not meant to be part of the work, but was meant to be compensation for the missing fugue. Even with this piece, there are myths surrounding it. Let's debunk.
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Thank you, THANK YOU, for listening.
-evan
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The Fourth Canon in The Art of Fugue: Upside Down, Slowed Down... How Much More Down?
30 september 2021 |
32 min
Rather than moving on to the final fugue, we have a brief visit to the final canon of the four canons in "The Art of Fugue."
Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu (Canon in augmentation and contrary motion [inversion]).
This form of this canon is very similar in construction to the previous ones, though rather than increasing the interval of imitation, the following voice appears in inversion and moving twice as slowly! A very complicated procedure.
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Evan is every day on his instagram stories uploading the great works of J.S.B: Watch
Check out Bach's 'gift canon' here:
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
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Bonus: The 13th Contrapunctus - in another way (for TWO harpsichords!)
26 juli 2021 |
24 min
This is the seventh bonus episode.
Among the errors in the assembly of the first printing of The Art of Fugue was the inclusion of an arrangement of fugue number 13 for two harpsichords. We look at the music, how it differs from the original 13th counterpoint (for one harpsichord) and how such an error could have been committed. It appears under the title, 'Alio Modo' ...another way. It contains a fourth, newly composed, non-imitative voice. And yes, since fugue 13 is a mirror fugue, Bach made two arrangements with two newly composed voices.
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Thank you, THANK YOU, for listening.
-evan
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The 13th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: also fugue this mirror a is?
21 juni 2021 |
37 min
Question: If a piece of music is perfect both on its head and also its feet, which one is the inversion?
In the previous fugue, fugue twelve, we saw Bach took four voices, a turned everything upside down: 1234 became 4321 and what went up came crashing down. Now, fugue 13 is again a 'mirror' fugue... or is it?
This thirteenth fugue is in three voices and uses a technique almost identical to it's sister fugue, number 12, but is still more complicated.
Topics Covered: Which comes first in number 13, the rectus or the inversus?
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DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH INSTAGRAM (they think Bach's music is 'Branded Content' - yikes. Public domain y'all) I AM MOVING STREAMS TO TWITCH.TV/WTF_BACH PLEASE FOLLOW ME THERE
Find a selected playlist of the music found and discussed in this podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
... have you seen: http://bachchurch.com ???
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Special Guest: Chris Thile. Man in the Mirror (Fugue)
2 juni 2021 |
58 min
This is an interview with mandolinist/composer/singer Chris Thile. Our conversation on May 14, 2021 spanned many diverse topics from how he felt about growing up in a religious community, to his favorite barrel aged spirits.
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Musicians/Bands mentioned (Alphabetically):
Bach, Beethoven, Bela Fleck, Bill Monroe, Edgar Meyer, Glenn Gould, Mike Marshall, Mozart, Nickle Creek, Radiohead, Richard Green, Russel Sherman, Vivaldi, Yo-Yo Ma
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Music/Books/Booze mentioned:
Russel Sherman, 'Piano Pieces'
Saint Anne's Reel: https://thesession.org/tunes/103
What does a mandolin look like?
Tolkien, 'The Lord of the Rings'
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Check out Chris' new album here: http://smarturl.it/laysongs
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The 12th Fugue in The Art of Fugue|euguF fo trA ehT ni euguF ht21 ehT?
18 maj 2021 |
42 min
Question: If a piece of music is perfect both on its head and also its feet, which one is the inversion?
A few important things I neglected to mention in the 11th counterpoint, but where to go after that 11th fugue anyhow? Into the mirror…
Bach, not satisfied with creating a triple fugue whose subjects were the same three subjects of the previous triple fugue- inverted- now pens a four-voice fugue where the entire texture will be inverted to create a new composition altogether. It's like writing two fugues at once. This can be done with any piece of music, but only Bach could make such a complicated composition sound like beautiful and convincing music both right-side-up and upside-down.
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Follow Evan on Instagram for even more Bachian content: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Find a selected playlist of the music found and discussed in this podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
... have you seen: http://bachchurch.com ???
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The Third Canon in The Art of Fugue: Counterpoint at the fifth? Or just a bunch of parallel fifths?
15 mars 2021 |
26 min
Rather than moving on to the twelfth fugue, we have a brief visit to the third of four canons from "The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach:
Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quina (Canon at the twelfth in counterpoint at the fifth).
This canon is very similar in construction to the previous canon, though at the larger interval of the 12th.
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Evan is now mid-49 days of toccatas every day on his instagram stories: Watch
Check out Bach's 'gift canon' here:
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
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Bonus: I Uploaded a Bach Album as an NFT
8 mars 2021 |
4 min
I don't know if you are already hip to it, or if you're just catching on, but it seems like releasing music as 'NFTs' could be in our futures. I wanted to have the first NFT version of The Art of Fugue. Check the auction out here:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The 11th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: A Triple Fugue &... A Possible Anti-Golden-Section?
19 februari 2021 |
43 min
The closing of our chapter on compound fugues, contrapunctus eleven, a powerful, complicated, and long fugue. Two expositions of the first theme? One in inversion? And wait, this is a triple fugue where all themes come in inversion and… also not in inversion? Holy B***!
Topics covered:
The original order of the fugues found in P 200 (the autograph score).
The 11th fugue as a possible early finale to The Art of Fugue.
Glenn Gould’s version of this fugue.
Could there be an ‘anti-golden section’ in this one?
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Follow Evan on Instagram for even more Bachian content: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Find a selected playlist of the music found and discussed in this podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Support us!
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The Tenth Fugue at the Tenth: Also... What is a Key?
26 januari 2021 |
38 min
Two fugues in original print are essentially the same: these are both this 10th contrapunctus. This fugue is a double fugue with counterpoint at the tenth (alla decima)
Topics covered: What does it mean when music is in a 'key' what keys did Bach often write in, and does it mean anything special that The Art of Fugue is in the key of d minor?
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more Bachian content: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
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The 9th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Two Subjects Combined at Two Intervals... Too much?
26 oktober 2020 |
22 min
Back to four voices! Bach begins yet again another fugue with a unique theme. The fugue will become a double fugue with our well known ‘Art of Fugue’ theme. The counterpoint then begins to appear in two ways: either on the same note or at different notes which are related to the perfect 5th, or 12th, as the title of this fugue (Alla Duodecima) suggests. Not only is this double counterpoint, but double counterpoint at ...double the intervalic possibilities...?
Bach Vision Test (Vulfpeck): https://youtu.be/vJfiOuDdetg
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Find a playlist of the music here.
The Art of Fugue arranged for Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUnOx6hfBE
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
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Special Guest: Jack Stratton (Vulfpeck). Down in a big way... with Bach?
25 september 2020 |
76 min
This is an interview with Jack Stratton of Vulfpeck. I loved our conversation during the summer of 2020. See some of the topics covered below and stay tuned for the next episode which will feature his arrangement of the ninth contrapunctus from The Art of Fugue. It was great to speak to a non-classical musician so eager about classical music and so involved with Bach.
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Sleepify (Silent album by Vulfpeck)
Vulfpeck Arranges the ninth contrapunctus from The Art of Fugue:
Version 1: https://youtu.be/YcxQdRIY11o
Version 2: https://youtu.be/vJfiOuDdetg
Fugue State (song by Vulfpeck)
Musicians/Bands mentioned (Alphabetically):
Bach, The Beatles, Beethoven, Naftule Brandwein, Cream, ELO, Glenn Gould, Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Liszt, Louis Marchand, Reinhold Mack, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Nirvana, Oscar Peterson, Queen, Bernard Purdy, Albert Schweitzer, Nate Smith, Steely Dan, Dave Tarras, Michael Winograd,
Jack’s non-musical influences (Alphabetically):
Caldwell Esselstyn, Larry David, Dean Ornish
Other things mentioned (Chronologically):
A Musical Offering, Silberman Pianofortes, Encore Records (Ann Arbor), The Blind Pig (Ann Arbor), Alan Watts, S.J. Perleman The Ill Mannered Clavichord, The Well Tempered Clavier,
--
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The 8th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Three Themes, Three voices.
8 september 2020 |
51 min
Back to it! Opening a new chapter in The Art of Fugue, this new chapter is one based on compound fugues, that is, our beloved ‘Art of Fugue Subject’ will now began to be combined with other new and unique themes.
Instead of going from a ‘simple’ to a double fugue, Bach drops a voice (all previous fugues were in 4 voices) and composes immediately a triple fugue for three voices. Like perfectly symmetrical juggling, this fugue is filled with beauty and amazing structural points.
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Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
The Art of Fugue arranged for Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUnOx6hfBE
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
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Bonus: How to Detect B.S. (Bad Scholarship)
17 augusti 2020 |
49 min
This is the fifth bonus episode.
Well folks, I had a hard time getting this out there. As I sat down to debunk "Evening in the Palace of Reason" by James Gaines, I found myself overcome with the sense of being a bully:
This book, published by none other than Harper Collins (and probably more read than any book by a notable Bach scholar), initially had me enraged with its conclusions about the character of Bach and the reasons for composing such a noble work as 'A Musical Offering' BWV 1079.
As I sat down to dismiss it however, I found that each sentence about Bach or the music was full of holes, so shrouded in pseudo-intellect, that I found myself overwhelmed with the task of cleaning up a mess far larger than the one about which I was enthusiastic.
Still, while feeling a bit like I was 'taking shots at a toothless tiger', I offer you "The Truth About 'A Musical Offering' " and hopefully the clearest guide for all interested parties on how to identify phony Bach scholarship, pseudo wisdom, and modern narrative.
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Follow me on instagram: I am heavy into posting the solo works for violin and cello on a daily basis: @wtfbach
Thank you, THANK YOU, for listening.
-evan
Support us:
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Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Bonus: A Bach Article from 1985
2 augusti 2020 |
25 min
This is the fourth bonus episode.
Two episodes ago, I began with a quote from Aldous Huxley. That quote came from an article written in 1985. The article focused on Bach's relationship to words and various writer's relationships with Bach. The whole article is fascinating and, well, I read it to you.
A piece of what I consider 'good scholarship', it takes stabs at what Bach playing would be like today, in 2020, but sets the standard for the next episode, in which we will be de-bunking poor Bach scholarship.
Here is the link to the article:
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/24/books/bach-at-300-words-notes-and-numbers.html
And here is the link to the obituary of the James A. Winn, who wrote it (d.2019)
Follow me on instagram: Each day I am posting the cello complete suites on a portable clavichord: @wtfbach
As always, thanks for listening,
-evan
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Bonus: Listener’s Choice: You asked, I talked.
24 juli 2020 |
43 min
This is the third bonus episode.
You know how at the end of every episode, Gaby says, "Want to have evan analyze a specific piece of Bach... just for you?"
Boom: Listener's choice volume one.
Three pieces you requested were:
Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV855 (Book one)
Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV849 (Book one)
Capriccio on the Departure of the Beloved Brother, BWV992
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Forgive my delay in getting this to all of you: I have a noble undertaking regarding a popular Bach book which is doing nothing but leading you further from the truth about the master! But have no fear, in a few weeks I will unleash an attack and clear up this confusion: meanwhile please enjoy my brief analysis of these three pieces which, in their own right, could take up many episodes each.
Also: Lament Aria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament_bass
Follow me on IG! Right now I am instagramming inner movements of the cello suites on a portable clavichord: @wtfbach
As always, thanks for listening,
-evan
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The Second Canon in The Art of Fugue: A canon functioning at two simultaneous intervals!?
3 juli 2020 |
31 min
Rather than moving on to the compound fugues, we have a pleasant visit to the second of four canons from "The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach:
Canon alla Decima in contrapunto alla Terza (Canon at the Tenth in counterpoint at the Third)
Topics covered: Aldous Huxley said that Bach is a manifestation of God? How does this second canon differ from the previous canon? What is a 'Cadenza'? So, you can play a canon with a delay pedal, but to what extent?
Check out a picture of Bach's 'gift canon' here:
NEXT EPISODE IS LISTENER'S CHOICE: DM EVAN WHAT PIECES YOU WANT TO HEAR
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The 7th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: One theme at three different speeds?
20 juni 2020 |
35 min
This is the last fugue of what we could call 'Chapter two' in The Art of Fugue: this is the third and final 'stretto fugue,' and the most complicated. Whereas in the previous episodes I mentioned in which direction subjects enter, inverted or not, or at which beat they overlap, in this episode, I disregard all of that in favor of trying to hear the three different speeds in multiple voices at once. I also ask the listener to imagine what this could sound like before the music is played. This is related to a technique called 'Audiation' which eventually will deserve special mention.
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Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
The Art of Fugue arranged for Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUnOx6hfBE
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Special Guest: Robert Hill. How does he play Bach?
15 juni 2020 |
96 min
Guest Interview: Robert Hill, Harpsichordist
I had the privilege of speaking to Robert Hill, one of the foremost harpsichordists alive. Our discussion spans many different topics including harpsichord tuning and repair, clavichords, piano actions, lute-harpsichords, early Bach, old Bach, figured bass, inaudible sounds, metronomes, partimento, and anything else listed here:
People / Topics Covered:
Keith Hill (Instrument maker, Robert’s Brother)
Jaap Schröder (Dutch violinist Hill heard in Michigan)
Fernando Valenti (American Harpsichordist)
Charles Burney (English Music Historian)
Lute Harpsichord: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautenwerck
John Dryden (the poet Leonhardt Quoted)
The Goethe Haus, Weimar (paint color)
Andreas Bach Book (french text only) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Bach_Buch
Andreas Staier Harpsichordist with whom Hill recorded BWV1080
David Stanwood https://www.stanwoodpiano.com/ (Piano Technician)
The Squiggle on the title page of the Well Tempered Clavier
Partimento (Reduction Technique):
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Randy Rainbow (comedian)
Madame de Villedieu (authoress), novel of note: "Desordres d'Amour
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
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Find a playlist of this episode’s music here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xyzZShf0RrAx75nvF1zUb?si=xRgHdqtNRtmogsUfvhlf7Q
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
--
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The 6th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: ’In Stylo Francese’
29 maj 2020 |
31 min
The second ‘stretto’ fugue: “Contrapunctus 6, in the French Style” now gives us the theme flying at two different speeds in both directions. We see the theme overlapped, coming both inverted and ‘rectus’, and now at 1x AND 2x speeds! Where will Bach go from here?!
Topics covered: What does it mean to play in the ‘French style?’ What does ‘diminution’ mean?
Pianists mentioned: Zoltán Kocsis, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Pierre-Laurent Aimard,
Harpsichordists (organists) mentioned: Helmut Walcha, Davitt Moroney, Robert Hill, Gustav Leonhardt, Isolde Ahlgrimm,
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
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Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
--
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
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The 5th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Our theme finally overlaps itself!
21 maj 2020 |
34 min
Here we are on a new chapter! The stretto fugues have begun. We uncover the extensive use of stretto at various 'lengths:' 12 beats, 6 beats, 4 beats, 2 beats even down to a single beat. Entrances are now flying both upside down and right-side up without warning.
Topics covered: Bach's cousin taught a 12-year old prince about fugues? 'Fleshing out' our Art of Fugue theme, Canons within fugues, The Art of Fugue orchestrated
E.H. Gombrich's 'Little History of the World' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_History_of_the_World
The Art of Fugue arranged for Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUnOx6hfBE
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Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Special Guest: Brad Mehldau. Why does he like Bach?
14 maj 2020 |
65 min
This is an interview with pianist/composer/arranger Brad Mehldau. Our conversation on May 12, 2020 spanned many diverse topics from what he is reading at the moment, what he keeps on his piano, when and how he practices, the connection between bebop and Bach, his favorite video game and more.
Bach's Table of Ornaments: http://www.pennuto.com/music/jsb_ornm.htm
Hear the music mentioned (in the order we mention it) here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5iP9EMbyCBoB6hEyK5waK4?si=ukZQ0wy2T62vjGImM_Okfw
Read the literature from our discussion here:
Book of Jeremiah: (New American Bible translation) http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PPE.HTM
The Upanishads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads
Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Faustus_(novel)
Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_a_Young_Poet
George Bernard Shaw music criticism: https://www.abebooks.com/Shaws-Music-Complete-Musical-Criticism-Bernard/30253564275/bd
Brad's favorite video game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millipede_(video_game)
Musicians/Bands mentioned (Alphabetically):
Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Jon Brion, Wendy Carlos, Chopin, John Coltrane, Critters Buggin', Nick Drake, Fauré, Gershwin, Glenn Gould, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Haydn, Fred Hersch, Wynton Kelly, Jacques Loussier, Jerome Lowenthal, Lightning Bolt, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Willie Nelson, Phineas Newborn, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Charlie Parker, Murray Perahia, Oscar Peterson, András Schiff, Schubert, Schumann, Wayne Shorter, Nina Simone, Art Tatum, Tom Waits, Ween.
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Follow Evan on Instagram for interactive content: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
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The First Canon in The Art of Fugue: Where do these pieces belong, and how do they get much more complicated than this?!
28 april 2020 |
27 min
Rather than moving on to the fifth fugue, we have a brief visit to the first of four canons from "The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach:
Canon in Hypodiapason (Canon at the octave).
Topics covered: What is an octave? Who is 'The Great One'? Why do musicians love Bach so? So... you can play a canon with a delay pedal?
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Bonus: Bach in Revision: How does Bach improve upon himself?
17 april 2020 |
24 min
This is the second bonus episode.
In it, you will hear the first three fugues from “The Art of Fugue” in their 'early versions', meaning, the versions which Bach conceived before he sent them to be published. This is a rare moment to observe Bach making improvements or corrections on his own compositions. Noticing how Bach revises his own work is a pretty rare and- may I say?- exclusive look into the mind of the great genius.
The 'Original Print', as I said, is found here: https://imslp.simssa.ca/files/imglnks/usimg/2/21/IMSLP23444-PMLP05843-Bach_Art_of_Fugue_1st_edition.pdf (DOWNLOAD IT! look at page 17 and 20, and 30! 30 has 'Bach's seal'... another podcast is in oder)
An important topic covered is the 'source tradition' of The Art of Fugue, and how the two principle sources differ. We also discuss what an autograph is, and what it means to have a composition 'published' in Bach's day.
I play the first three fugues in the original versions, expose the slight variants, and dissect these slight variants and how they came to become the printed version.
I have not yet promoted this, but I will in my next 'regular' episode:
I 'instagramed' the entire art of fugue, and wrote in the 'stories' important facts: just google: Art of Fugue Instagram -- obviously I am the only one. This could help ye who are zealous with visuals to get inside this great work.
Therefore, follow me on IG!: @wtfbach
-evan
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The 4th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Where is the golden section? Exchanging the Dux and the Comes
5 april 2020 |
37 min
The final piece in the first 'quartet' of fugues from "The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach: Contrapunctus 4. With this episode we have covered all of the 'simple fugues' in this sprawling work.
Topics covered: A blind organist from Leipzig... Helmut who? The official Latin terms for the first two entering voices. A fugue made entirely of a subject and a two-note motif? What on earth is a golden section and how does one go about finding one?
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Follow Evan on Instagram for even more content about Bach: www.instagram.com/WTFBach
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The 2nd/3rd Fugues in The Art of Fugue: What is a Clavichord? Our first countersubject!
22 mars 2020 |
37 min
We discuss the second and third fugues from "The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach.
We hear them played on a clavichord and a piano, then both arranged electronically with some new insights.
Topics covered: How quiet is a clavichord? So... what's the vibe in general of The Art of Fugue? Countersubjects, inverted entrances, and the subject beginning to change.
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
Bonus: Contrapunctus I: all screwed up... 11x
15 mars 2020 |
36 min
This is the first bonus episode.
In it, you will hear the first contrapunctus from “The Art of Fugue” (which, by now, you can tell your friends is called, ‘Die Kunst der Fuge’ in German) in eleven different ways.
Eleven is an important number in ‘Die Kunst der Fuge', and this first counterpoint- or fugue- or contrapunctus has eleven entrances.
If you hear the entirety of this bonus episode, you will have mastered the first counterpoint and could recognize it even if you heard an ice-cream truck playing it passing you at 70 MPH. That would be the day.
Also, if you haven't followed:
wtfbach on instragram
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe
The First Fugue in The Art of Fugue: What is a Harpsichord? Eleven entrances?
11 mars 2020 |
31 min
We discuss the first fugue from "The Art of Fugue" by J.S. Bach. We hear it played first on a harpsichord, then on a piano with 'voice-over analysis' then by a computer with the voices panned hard left/right.
Topics covered: How does a harpsichord work?, Must one bring out, or even hear every entrance of the subject?, What about authenticity vs. modern approaches to Bach?, Was Evan really called Slim-E?
Find a playlist of the music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
And the 16 year-old Evan Shinners' fugue is found here: https://soundcloud.com/emigrationposse/14-fuga
Support us:
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Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
Write us:
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What is a fugue? Who was J.S. Bach? Introductory podcast
1 mars 2020 |
23 min
The introduction to baroque composer J.S. Bach. Also, what is a fugue? What is counterpoint? We answer these questions and prepare ourselves for a journey into Bach's great work, 'The Art of Fugue.'
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Find a playlist of the music in this podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ha250UDFktGqZjpt1hk7L?si=fIqZwtTUQJmzB9SYwskeYA
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or anything at all?
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En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.