The Toccatas for Keyboard,

BWV The (, ; BWV) is a Catalogues of classical compositions, catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990 and the third edition in ...

910–916, are seven pieces for clavier written by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. Although the pieces were not originally organized into a collection by Bach himself (as were most of his other keyboard works, such as the

Well Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time ''clavier'' referred to a variety of keyboard instruments, ...

and the English Suites), the pieces share many similarities, and are frequently grouped and performed together under a collective title.Schulenberg 2006, 97.

History

The toccatas represent Bach's earliest keyboard compositions known under a collective title. The earliest sources of the BWV 910, 911 and 916 toccatas appear in the Andreas-Bach Book,Schulenberg 2006, 98. an important collection of keyboard and organ manuscripts of various composers compiled by Bach's oldest brother,

Johann Christoph Bach Johann Christoph Bach (baptised – 31 March 1703) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period. Johann Christoph was an older cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach who would later describe him in his ''Genealogy'' (, 1735) as "the pr ...

between 1707 and 1713. An early version of the BWV 912 (known as the BWV 912a) also exists in another collection compiled by Johann Christoph Bach known as the "

Möller manuscript :''see also Müller Moller, Möller, Møller or von Möller is a surname. 'Möller' means 'Miller'. Notable people with the surname include: * Adolf Möller, German rower * Aksel Møller (1906–1958), Danish politician * Ale Möller, Swedish mus ...

", from around 1703 to 1707. This indicates that most of these works originated no later than Bach's early Weimar years, though the early northern-German style indicates possible

Arnstadt Arnstadt () is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Gera (river), Gera about south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a well-preserved historic centre with a partially ...

origin.

Composition

The works bear an early northern-German influence, with distinct contrasting sections and

fugal In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

passages ingrained into the rhapsodic material, as opposed to the more familiar, two-movement

prelude and fugue {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A prelude and fugue is a musical form generally consisting of two Movement (music), movements in the same key for solo keyboard music, keyboard. In classical music, the combination of Prelude ( ...

format. Other early Bach works that follow this sectional,

Buxtehude Buxtehude (; , ), officially the Hanseatic City of Buxtehude (), is a town on the Este River in Northern Germany, belonging to the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and attached to the city's S-Ba ...

-influenced format include the

Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in E major, BWV 566 Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in (C or) E major, BWV 566 is an organ work written by Johann Sebastian Bach probably during his 4 month-stay at Lübeck or afterwards in the winter of 1705– 1706. It comprises five sections and is an early work in g ...

, and Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 551. Though the specific instrumentation is not given for any of the works, they are all strictly manualiter, as none of them call for pedal parts. Like Bach's other clavier works, these toccatas are frequently performed on the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. Because of some of the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

-like textures, the pieces are sometimes performed on the organ. In fact, the opening motifs of the BWV 912, 914 and 916 toccatas resemble the ones on the

BWV 532 Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532.2 (previously 532), is a prelude and fugue written for the organ . BWV 532.1 (previously 532/2a) is an earlier version of the Fugue. History The Fugue in D major, BWV& ...

, 534 and 541Williams 2003, 82. organ preludes respectively.

The Seven Toccatas

*Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910 *# (Toccata) *# o tempo indication*# Presto e Staccato (Fuga) *# o tempo indication*# (Fuga) *Toccata in C-minor, BWV 911 *# (Toccata) *# Adagio *# (Fuga) *# Adagio *# (Fuga) *# Adagio / Presto *Toccata in D-major, BWV 912 *# Presto *# Allegro *# Adagio *# o tempo indication*# Con Discrezione *# Fuga *Toccata in D-minor, BWV 913 *# (Toccata) *# o tempo indication*# Presto *# Adagio *# Allegro *Toccata in E-minor, BWV 914 *# (Toccata) *# Un Poco Allegro (a 4 voci.) *# Adagio *# Allegro – Fuga (a 3 voci.) *Toccata in G-minor, BWV 915 *# (Toccata) *# Adagio *# Allegro *# Adagio *# Fuga *Toccata in G-major, BWV 916 *# Presto *# Adagio *# Allegro (Fuga)

References

Works cited

*Schulenberg, David (2006), ''The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach'' (2nd ed.), Routledge, *Williams, Peter (2003), ''The Organ Music of J. S. Bach'' (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press,

External links

Toccatas for Clavichord, BWV 910–916
Scores at the

International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project uses MediaWiki software, and ...

(IMSLP) *

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

links fo
BWV 910BWV 911BWV 912BWV 913BWV 914BWV 915
an
BWV 916
*

Netherlands Bach Society The Netherlands Bach Society () is the oldest ensemble for Baroque music in the Netherlands, and possibly in the world. The ensemble was founded in 1921 in Naarden to perform Bach's ''St Matthew Passion'' on Good Friday and has performed the work ...

links fo
BWV 911BWV 912BWV 913
an
BWV 914
{{Portalbar, Classical Music Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach Compositions for keyboard Compositions for harpsichord Toccatas