Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

The Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565), generally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, is one of the best known works in the organ repertoire. It has been dated to between 1703 and 1707, and would thus be one of Bach's early works.

The opening of the work is probably familiar to most people. In the musical score it looks like this:

Reception

The work is unquestionably a favorite of the listening public. This includes not just classical music enthusiasts, but also the many people who know the work only through its numerous appearances (see below) in popular culture.

Musical critics have also admired the work. For instance, it is described by (Uwe Kraemer) as having "ecstatic technical virtuosity and [also] mastery of form" and by (fermatas and dynamic markings, not ordinarily used in organ music in Bach's day.

• Lastly, Williams judges that various musical passages in the work are simply too crude musically to have been Bach's work.

William's views have more recently been endorsed in a book-length study by the musicologist Rolf Dietrich Claus, cited below.

Violin transcription

Williams's second theory is that the Toccata and Fugue was not originally written for organ, but in fact is a transcription of a work for solo violin. Williams places this original violin work a fifth higher, in the key of A minor, so that the work begins dramatically on a high E and descends almost to the lowest note on the instrument:

Under this account, many aspects of the work fall into place.

• The fairly plain musical texture would reflect the general texture of Bach's well known solo sonatas and partitas for violin, which often convey a contrapuntal texture implicitly, rather than through double-stopping.
• Various passages echo a violin technique in which sixteenth notes (semiquavers) are played by alternating between strings--Williams's conjectured key of A minor places many of these notes on an open string, which would fit with other passages in Bach's solo violin works.
• The use of parallel octaves in the opening, otherwise unusual in Bach's music, would be a natural way to give greater weight to a solo violin line.
• The passage at m. 137 strongly suggests quadruple-stopped chords on a violin, along the following lines:

Williams put his theory into practice by writing a reconstruction of the conjectured original violin work, which has been performed (by violinist Jaap Schröder) and published. The violinist Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir. Bach also transcribed the Fugue movement of his Sonata in G minor for solo violin BWV 1001 as organ music, namely as the second half of the Prelude and Fugue in D minor for organ, BWV 539.

Peter Williams does not mention these potential parallels in his article, probably because he feels that they are irrelevant in light of his Theory #1 (that Bach was not the composer of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor). For those who do believe that Bach was the composer of this work, the fact that Bach was apparently not averse to making violin-to-organ transcriptions could be taken as collateral support for the view that the Toccata is also a transcription of violin music.

The Toccata in the 20th century

During the 20th century, it became popular for artists to adapt the Toccata to their own esthetic agendas. Around 1927, the conductor Leopold Stokowski transcribed the work for a very large symphony orchestra, making it into a showpiece of orchestral color, virtuosity, and sheer volume. For many contemporary listeners, Stokowski's transcription serves as the principal memory of an approach to the performance of Bach that was widespread in the first half of the 20th century.

Later, the piece was repeatedly incorporated into works of popular culture, including the films Fantasia (featuring Stokowski and his transcription), Rollerball, Sunset Boulevard, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the musical/film Phantom of the Opera, and the video game Gyruss.

A popular version is recorded by Vanessa-Mae for her album The Violin Player. If you are looking for a violin & techno-version of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, this is most likely it.

Book

• Rolf Dietrich Claus's researches on the authenticity of the work are reported in his book Zur Echtheit von Toccata und Fuge d-moll BWV 565 ("On the authenticity of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565"), published by Verlag Dohr, 2nd ed. Cologne 1998, ISBN 3925366377. A English-language review of Claus's work by Yo Tomita can be read at .