Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543

Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 is a piece of organ music written by Johann Sebastian Bach[1] sometime around his years as court organist to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1708–1717).

Versions
First page of the Prelude BWV 543/1a (19th-century copy)[2]

Prelude

An alternate version of the organ piece is numbered BWV 543a. As for this earlier version only the prelude is different, that version of the prelude is sometimes indicated by BWV 543/1a (BWV 543/2, that is the fugue, being identical in both versions).[3]

Fugue

Peter Williams points out[4] that the catchy "lengthy sequential tail" of this fugue subject (its last 3 measures) easily "easily confuse[s] the ear about the beat" and is harmonically an exact "paraphrase" of the sequence in bars 6-8 of Vivaldi's double violin concerto Op. 3 No. 8 in A minor (RV 522, from L'estro armonico). Bach arranged this Vivaldi concerto as his solo organ "concerto" BWV 593, probably in 1714-16.

This 4-voice fugue BWV 543 has been compared to Bach's harpsichord Fugue in A minor, BWV 944, a 3-voice fugue that was probably written in 1708, and this organ fugue has even been called "the final incarnation" of BWV 944.[5] (A similarity had been mentioned by Wolfgang Schmieder, editor of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis.) However, the idea of any close relationship (let alone a reincarnation) has been challenged[6]. Williams writes[7] that the fugue "has often been likened to the keyboard fugue BWV 944 [...] and claimed as some kind of version of it [but] the resemblances — contours of subject and countersubject, a perpetuum mobile element, a rather free close — are too slight" to support the comparisons. Williams also cites similarities "between the subject’s outline and that of the A minor Fugue BWV 559, or between the pedal figures in both Preludes’ closing stages [and] in the Prelude’s opening [right hand] figure, in a Corrente in Vivaldi’s Op. 2 No. 1, of 1709, and in a Fugue in E minor by Pachelbel." Aside from Williams' observations about the fugue subject, the fugues BWV 543 and 944 differ in their larger outlines: their harmonic structure and the series of expositions and episodes are not parallel.

Score

Prelude

The musical materials of the prelude are a descending chromatic bassline and simple arpeggiated chords above it; this is first stated solo in the manual, and, after a lengthy embellishment of a tonic pedal point, in the pedal. The highly embellished cadence that follows—full of manual runs over sustained pedal notes—leads into a contrapuntal exploration of the opening material in sequence; this is followed by a very free peroration. The Toccata-like prelude—in the stylus phantasticus—bears the marks of Bach's early, north German-influenced style, while the fugue could be considered a later product of Bach's maturity.

Fugue

The fugue is in 6
8 time, unlike the prelude, which is in 4
4 time. The fugue theme, like that of the prelude, is composed of arpeggiated chords and downward sequences, especially in its later half. Due to the sequential nature of the subject, the majority of the fugue is composed of sequences or cadences. The Fugue ends in one of Bach's most toccata-like, virtuosic cadenzas in the harmonic minor. Unlike most of Bach's minor-key keyboard works, it ends on a minor chord rather than a picardy third.

Arrangements

Liszt's transcription

Because of the piece's overall rhapsodic nature, many organists play this piece freely, and in a variety of tempi; it can be easily transcribed to a different instrument. Liszt included it in his transcriptions of the "six great preludes and fugues" BWV 543-8 for piano (S. 462).[8]

The Sicilian Clan

Italian composer Ennio Morricone created a variation of Prelude and Fugue in A minor for the main theme of the French movie The Sicilian Clan.

References
  1. Prelude and fugue, a BWV 543 at www.bach-digital.de
  2. D-BSZk I B 3,56 at www.bach-digital.de
  3. Prelude, a (early version) BWV 543/1a at www.bach-digital.de
  4. Williams, Peter (2003), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (second ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 92-95, retrieved 15 June 2020
  5. Johnston, Blair, All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music, edited by Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan, Allen Schrott, AMG, retrieved 15 June 2020
  6. "Bach's A Minor Prelude and Fugue: Some Textual Observations on BWV 543". The Musical Times. 114 (No. 1566): 831–833. August 1973.
  7. Williams, Peter (2003), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (second ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 92-95, retrieved 15 June 2020
  8. Transcriptions at pianosociety.com
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