Episodes
-
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
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:
Youtube playlist!
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycy2fab7
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/nhfuws4t
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/mrxj7pws
Volume Two:
Youtube playlist!
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/msjyhamh
Apple Music: https://tinyurl.com/mtykbxnz
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/3m7b9v6w
Volume Three:
Youtube playlist!
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 -
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
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 -
Missing episodes?
-
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
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 -
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
Thanks for all your support during The Bach Store! If you’re in NYC on Friday, come to Le Poisson Rouge at 158 Bleecker Street at 7pm.
Be sure to mark your calendars: April 24th, 2024, my new albums will be on PRE-sale. It marks the beginning of my most ambitious project to date: a very thorough, if possible, ‘complete’ set of the keyboard works of Bach. I will certainly send another reminder as the date approaches.
And now for a brief journey into Bach around this date in 1724: today’s episode covers the cantata for the second Sunday after Easter, BWV 104, Du Hirte Israel, höre. Unlike the other cantatas I have recently discussed, this cantata is not based on a chorale melody.
And don’t miss out on your WTF Bach merchandise! Here are seven magnets for your fridge. Send me a note to arrange a sale (T-Shirts, Pins, Bags, 3D Printed Heads, Lighters, also available).
How To Support This Podcast:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
or become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
This week I’ll be performing some flute chamber music in Santa Barbara, California. I realize I’ve never specifically mentioned Bach’s wonderful flute repertoire on this podcast.
We tackle here what I find is the most complex composition in the repertoire: the first movement of the b minor sonata, BWV 1030.
Pieces heard:
BWV 1030.1 Source P. 1008, early version, harpsichord part.
BWV 1030.2 The later version, arranged as a flute sonata.
Articles:
Contentious writing on flute vs. recorder
Your Support Is What Keeps Us Alive!
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Check out WTF Bach’s Youtube!
New videos appearing soon.
Join the mailing list for very occasional blasts: wtfbach.substack.com
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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.
Your Support Is What Keeps Us Alive!
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Check this playlist:
I mentioned this playlist in the episode: all the cantatas in the 1724 cycle. Love to my fans!
The book I mentioned on the use of ‘Tonus Peregrinus”
Join the list for updates if you haven’t already:
wtfbach.substack.com
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
Last episode we introduced Bach’s second cantata cycle from 1724. We saw in the first cantatas of the cycle, Bach used a church melody as the cantus firmus first in the sopranos, then the altos.
This episode we will explore the next two cantatas where Bach sets the cantus firmus in the tenors in BWV 7, and the basses in BWV 135.
About the melody you may know as “O Sacred Head Surrounded”
Pieces heard:
BWV 7, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Full Performance)
BWV 135, Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder (Full Performance)
Oh, you don’t follow WTFBach on Instagram? For shame!
Posting almost daily music from the keyboard repertoire.
We Need Your Support!
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
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-
Join the list for updates if you haven’t already:
wtfbach.substack.com
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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!)
The Short-Tempered Clavier
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!)
Good Ol’ Piano Slapstick
Mozart Opera
Inflationary Language
Television Special (75+ Min)
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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
Support us:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Join the list for updates if you haven’t already:
wtfbach.substack.com
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
(@wtfbach on instagram)
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
I rarely just play on this podcast, but that’s how I’d like to package this little present for my listeners. Rather than spending days researching and writing, today I will play four fugues and introduce them only briefly. It’s some twenty minutes of music I hope you can enjoy during your holidays.
The quote I read to introduce this short concert is by Mortimer J. Adler.
Bach wrote this music before 1717 (at the latest.) These are fugues whose themes originated in the work of other composers. Bach borrows these themes and creates his own work. These fugues are not commonly played which make them all the more fun to listen to and study.
As always, thanks for listening, thanks for spreading the word and supporting this podcast. I’m looking forward to 2025 with you Bach enthusiasts.
Fugues I performed:
Fugue in C major, BWV 966 (on a theme by Adam Reinken)
Fugue in C major, BWV 946 (on a theme by Tomaso Albinoni)
Fugue in a minor, BWV 965 (on a theme by Adam Reinken)
Fugue in A major, BWV 949 (probably on a theme by Tomaso Albinoni)
Support us:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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.
Support us:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
EDIT June 2024. I have misunderstood the term ‘Applicatio’ in this episode. I now understand it to refer to the fingering and not the application of ornaments— despite the fact that many ornaments are ‘applied’ in the piece. ‘Applicatio’ as I now understand it sometimes referred to the hand position on a string instrument, or here, where to ‘apply’ the fingers. A forthcoming youtube video will highlight this correction. -e.s.
Firstly, here is the image of what’s in question:
If you’ve ever wondered what all the ‘squiggles’ are about over certain notes in sheet music, this episode will you give you a good idea.
Here is the ‘Applicatio,’ the little piece which would have shown Bach’s son (and other future students) how to apply these ornaments- notice the fingering and the ‘J.N.J.’:
Just a quick episode today! Stay tuned for more writings and longer episodes soon.
Support us:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
In this episode I delve into two very diverse chorale preludes: one from the so-called, “Great 18” and one from the individually transmitted.
Here is a link to Bach’s own autograph of the Leipzig chorales. Beautiful handwriting!
Marie-Claire Alain’s recording of BWV 655 (completely different to Koopman’s)
The “Organ Sonatas” I recorded with LH/RH hard panning On Spotify on Apple Music
P.S. This is the first episode released on the new substack website- please shout if you experience problems!
Support us:
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
--
I AM STARTING A SUBSTACK SOON SO JOIN THE FUN:
WTFBACH.SUBSTACK.COM
--
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.
Tucker's Spotify Playlists
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
Though this episode starts with quite the extended introduction, this is in fact
EPISODE THREE
In a four-part study into the 14 additional canons on the back of the Goldbergs, BWV1087.
Here in this video, we dismiss a popular Bach video, and examine which videos are in fact Möbius strips.
Here is the disproven crab canon video.
Here are two studies which don't quite go far enough:
One. I love this channel, don't get me wrong- they just didn't quite examine the consequences of chromatic inversion.
Two. The American Mathematical Society publishes similarly.
Both studies miss the technical inversions that I have pointed out in this episode.
--
And now the blurb from the other two episodes studying BWV 1087:
On the back of his own personal copy of the 'Goldberg Variations', Bach notated an additional fourteen canons. These were discovered only as late as 1974(!) and are among the most interesting compositional exercises we know from the composer.
From eight bass notes (the first 8 notes of the 'Goldberg' Aria- the structure in a sense,) Bach creates, yes, fourteen other canons. In this episode, we discuss engraving and canons 5-9.
Here is what they look like as seen on the back of Bach's own copy:
and HERE is the link to engraving- you can see how Balthasar Schmid (I accidentally added an 'S' to his name in the episode) engraved Bach's BWV988.
Support us:
https://www.patreon.com/wtfbach
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
Ideas? Wanna sponsor an episode?
Write us:
bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe -
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
https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach
https://venmo.com/wtfbach
https://cash.app/$wtfbach
--
Suggestions? Want Evan to analyze a specific piece of Bach? Have other questions for Evan about music or... anything... anything at all?
Write us: [email protected]
Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe - Show more
