The work was first published by Breitkopf & Härtel in late 1833 as part of a collection of Bach’s organ works. It was common practice at the time to create fugues on other composers’ themes, and a number of such pieces by Bach are known (BWV 574, 579, 950, etc.) moreover, the bass pattern of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, is borrowed from André Raison’s organ passacaglia, also using only the first half of Raison’s passage (just the way BWV 565 borrows from Pachelbel). A passage in the fugue of BWV 565 is an exact copy of a phrase in one of Johann Pachelbel’s D minor fantasias, and the first half of the subject is based on this Pachelbel passage as well.
#Bach toccata and fugue in d minor brass quintet sheet music free
However, the numerous recitative stretches are rarely found in the works of northern composers and may have been inspired by Johann Heinrich Buttstett, whose few surviving free works, particularly his Prelude and Capriccio in D minor, exhibit similar features. The connection to the north German organ school was noted early by Bach biographer Philipp Spitta in 1873. All later manuscript copies that are known today originate directly or indirectly with Ringk’s.īWV 565 exhibits a typical simplified north German structure with a free opening (toccata), a fugal section (fugue), and a short free closing section. Ringk’s copy abounds in Italian tempo markings, fermatas (a characteristic feature of Ringk’s copies) and staccato dots, all very unusual features for pre–1740 German music. It is most probably a later addition, similar to the title of Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564, because in the Baroque era such organ pieces would most commonly be called simply Prelude (Praeludium, etc.) or Prelude and Fugue. The title of the piece is given in Ringk’s manuscript as Toccata Con Fuga. Several compositions by him survive, and he is also notable today for his copies of numerous keyboard works by Georg Böhm, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, Dieterich Buxtehude, and other important masters. The only near-contemporary source is an undated copy by Johannes Ringk, a pupil of Johann Peter Kellner. HistoryĪs with most Bach organ works, no autograph manuscript of BWV 565 survives. The attribution of the piece to Bach, however, has been challenged since the 1970s by a number of scholars. First published in 1833 through the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn, the piece quickly became popular, and is now one of the most famous works in the organ repertoire. Originally, the Philadelphia Orchestra was slated to be filmed in the introduction and interstitial segments, but union and budgetary considerations prevented this from coming to pass.The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. Smith, who mime to the prerecorded tracks by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The animation segues back into the live-action footage of Stokowski as the piece concludes, setting the precedent for the rest of the musical numbers.Īlthough the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the music for the film (excepting The Sorcerer's Apprentice), they do not appear onscreen the orchestra used onscreen in the film is made up of local Los Angeles musicians and Disney studio employees like James Macdonald and Paul J. Toccata and Fugue was inspired primarily by the work of German abstract animator Oskar Fischinger, who worked for a brief time on this segment. The number segues into an abstract animation piece-a first for the Disney studio-set in time to the music. The first few parts of the piece are played in each of the three sound channels (first the right, then the left, then the middle, then all of them) as a demonstration of Fantasound. The first third of the Toccata and Fugue is in live-action, and features an orchestra playing the piece, illuminated by abstract light patterns set in time to the music and backed by stylized (and superimposed) shadows. Stokowski appears and begins conducting the first strains of his own orchestration of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, by Johann Sebastian Bach (originally written for solo organ). Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor arrives and delivers an introduction to the film. Musicians are seen ascending the stand, taking their places, and tuning their instruments. Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is the first segment of the film, Fantasia.įantasia begins immediately (there are no opening credits or logos of any sort) with the curtains being opened to reveal an orchestra stand. What we call, absolute music, even the title has no meaning beyond a description of the form of the music.” ― Deems Taylor “ Now the number that opens our Fantasia program, the Toccata and Fuge is music of this third kind.