Johann Sebastian Bach wrote Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 between 1727 and 1731 while living in Leipzig. The piece is an organ composition that was first performed on October 17, 1727 at St. Paul's Church in Leipzig for the memorial service of Christiane Eberhardine der Starke, the Electress of Saxony and the Queen of Poland. Bach played the organ himself during the ceremony
Unlike most other organ preludes and fugues of Bach, the autograph fair copy of the score survives. The beginning of the BWV 544 Prelude, in the hand of J.S. The piece is written in the key of B minor, which was often used by Bach for mournful and stately occasions. The prelude is considered dramatic, with a powerful role for the pedals that distinguishes German Baroque organ music from other countries. The fugue subject is more solid and trustworthy, with regular notes moving up and down over a modest range.
Many thanks to Sonus Pardisi for the incredible audio engineering it took to sample this organ. The organ used is in Freiberg Germany, at St. Petrikirche
Sonus Pardisi writes:
Freiberg Silbermann Organ (1735)
Freiberg in Saxony is an exceptional city as there are four (!) extant Silbermann's organs. The most famous instrument is the three manual organ in the cathedral. It is a work of Silbermann's youth: he built it when he was 27 years old. The sample set, which we present here, is a model of another Silbermann's opus. It is the organ in the Petrikirche (St. Peter’s church), a two manual organ with an unusually rich specification of 32 stops. Admittedly less famous than the Cathedral organ nearby, especially now after the reconstruction, the organ is a representation of the mature Silbermann’s craftsmanship of the late Baroque and an acoustic ideal for many interprets and organ lovers.
10 окт 2024
