03 September 2009

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor


A fantastic presentation of this classic piece.

I've started trying to limit my blogging to just half a day so that I have time for my real life, but the problem I encounter isn't that that the blogging per se is tedious or time-consuming, but that as I surf around I find all this cool stuff that takes time to explore.

Today, for example, I discovered, is Miss Cellania's 4th Blogiversary. So she posted links to prior blogiversary posts plus ten videos, including this one, which I had to watch... and so it goes. My sincerest thanks to her for maintaining such an interesting and good-humored blog, and best wishes for her continuing success. Her blog is HERE, for those few of you not acquainted with it.

Now, re the music and the video. From the YouTube blurb I learned this
Q: Where does the toccata end and the fugue begin?
A: The fugue starts at 2:51 and the toccata returns at 7:12, but between these two points, parts which are strictly fugal alternate with episodes that are more toccata-like, so it's not 100% clear-cut (like in some other toccata/fugue pairs he wrote).
The presentation's visual elements really helped me "see" the music; in addition to the expected "scale" tonal arrangement, the length of the bars correlate with duration of notes, and the colors correspond to different organ stops.

If you like classical music, this is totally worth watching fullscreen.

8 comments:

  1. WOW!!!!

    Have you ever considered taking audience/reader submissions for links? Or do you think that would just take up even more of your time?

    I do a LOT of browsing and every now and then I find a link and think, this belongs on things you wouldn't know.

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  2. People do sometimes send me links (via the email under my sidebar profile). Often they are items I blogged in previous years before they found this site, but typically it's just that I don't have time to pursue additional sources. I have (quite literally) close to a thousand links that I have bookmarked for possible use. I inserted a separator in my list of links two weeks ago labelled "the end. no more links after this" and have accumulated 70 more on the list. So thank you, but please... no...

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  3. What a beautiful and complex composition.

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  4. I'd love to see some Chopin visualized like this. After all of Bach, that is. :)

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  5. Blogreaders may be interested to know that some (the smart ones!)scholars believe that the Toccata and Fugue in D minor not only was not written by J.S. Bach, but was originally written for violin. As a retired, highly opinionated musician, I can tell you that when I heard it played on a solo violin, it sounded really "right" to me for the first time ever. Look it up online - you can find it all, including a listening file of a fine violin performance.

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  6. GrannieO's suggestion is discussed here -

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor#Attribution

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  7. that was so beautiful, I have forgotten this fact's vibrancy over the years...having grown up with it I heard it in my head sleeping sometimes and since then it has been decades. thank you for sharing this.

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