BACH MUSIC DATABASE

ORGAN WORKS
INTRODUCTORY PAGE

Ask most people if they know any work by Johann Sebastian Bach and the chances are that some will mention the famed “Toccata & Fugue in D minor” – now regarded as doubtful JSB – and others will simply say ‘Organ Music’ (or the infamous ‘Air on the G string!’). From the State Occasion to the Parish Service, Bach’s organ works are called upon without hesitation because they add that indefinable something ‘extra’ that makes the occasion special, and therefore memorable.

Organs and composing for the organ could almost be regarded as a ‘safe anchor’ for Bach, even though he wrote for other instruments and for other forms of composition; i.e. cantatas, passions, concertos etc. From his earliest years to final decade in 1740s Leipzig, Bach never lost interest in the instrument nor in providing for it. Throughout his life he was called upon to inspect many organs built in Thuringia and Saxony and asked to give his opinion, almost certainly performing the inaugural recital during his inspection visits. Indeed for one such occasion Bach also provided a Cantata. “Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest” BWV 194 was composed for the dedication on 2 November 1723 of the church and organ at Störmthal, a town situated just a few miles from Leipzig. On this occasion Bach no doubt demonstrated his very considerable keyboard skills and artistry on the newly restored instrument during the proceedings. Further, on 1 December 1736 Bach was in Dresden to perform one of his first duties as the new Court Composer there and, with his fame as an organist abounding, gave the inaugural recital on the new Silbermann Organ installed at the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).

© Margaret Steinitz