Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor - 1/2 - Passacaglia

[RevoltesocialHipHop]

MAGNIFIKKKK !!!!

[wwww1966]

Great performance.Probably the best I've ever heard.Image is not good,no relation with that great music. Thanks.

[fuganai]

I love this performances of Helmut Walcha

[QuEJuegosmaSbacanxD0]

this one is a complete masterpiece and it deserve our respect

[QuEJuegosmaSbacanxD0]

this one is a complete masterpiece and it deserve our respect

[Kristopful]

This is good...But try to get the "Carl Weinrich" 1967 version...Released on "Music for Pleasure"..a cheap Label with outstanding performances...

It is incredible....way beyond this in textures & layers, which are multitude.

[Powmoro]

When I listen to this I imagined and drew a china-faced little girl with blond hair, and a beautiful silken dress. But this girl has come to a gruesome ending and I'll spare you the details, but that's how it feels in my fingers.

[azgalorazgalor17]

I hate to bring an out of topic comment but this music reminded me of castlvania games.

[floydforest]

I actually found the picture quite suiting this music. It just sort of clicks.

[LinzAnn1e]

shocked by the picture...

[susumu07]

Get over it people, it's just a dead baby from a 100-year old photo. For all we know, the baby's whole family could have died in World War I or II. And it's a serene face, not a nasty looking torn-up bombing victim. Grow up and appreciate the music. This is the best recording of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue I've every heard. I don't care what the picture is, you could put a picture of the devil on the video and I'd still listen to the music. Bach is bigger and more important than some picture.

[mreverbel]

How about explaining the bad choice for the picture using Helmut Walcha's (the organist) own words:

"Bach opens a vista to the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all."

[ttwiligh7]

What is amazing is Whalcha seems to be always aware of the structure of the whole thing no matter which bar he is at, while many organists, including Power Biggs and Karl Richter, change registrations to be atmospheric, emotional, or dramatic, having NO IDEA of what they are doing to the whole thing.

You may choose emotion over logic, but I think everyone must agree that the depth of his understanding is uncomparable.

[dlphcoracl]

@ttwiligh7

I agree with you entirely. For me, Helmut Walcha's historic recordings of Bach's complete works for organ on the DGG Archive label in the 1960's have always set the standard. They are not the flashiest, not the most dramatic, but played always with an understanding of what Bach had written. Walcha's knowledge of and respect for the music's structure and the clarity of his performances reveals the logic and beauty of Bach's works.

[ttwiligh7]

@dlphcoracl

You know, I sometimes feel like I should speak up, because I found Walcha fans were quite modest just like his performance, while Richter and Koopman fans are roaring around in You Tube. I like some of their performances, too, but I always come back to Walcha as I feel like my ears are washed with the purest of water. 

[mahmadm14]

Superb playing of a great piece. Among my organ favourites this is the top. Organ music does not come more profound than this, in my opinion.

[locomotifx]

Music, great. Picture, simply tasteless.

[gtash001]

Pure, absolute, God-given music!!! For me Walcha's performance is the best. I do agree that the image is inappropriate here.

[Kochiha]

It's because of pieces like this that I remark that Bach was the composer that invented heavy metal.

[gtash001]

@Kochiha : Bach invented/perfected all music, not just heavy metal. His is called for a reason, "the father of all music". Positive progress in music did stop in 1750!!!

[gtash001]

@gtash001: You have spoken my mind, I also believe that all music starts and ends with Bach. There has been nothing new since 1750. His music is the perfect blend of art with science, it is life itself!!!

[Alon235235]

I agree that this really can't be defined as funeral music,

But damn it would be awesome if that was played in my funeral

[locomotifx]

@Alon235235 :-) That's rather beautiful as well as v. funny.

[87165nick]

Where does this recording come from? It's the best recording I've ever heard!

[insipidjello]

Of the greatest personages who ever lived, according to legacy and faith and artistic monumentalism 1) J.S. Bach 2) Sir Isaac Newton 3)William Shakespeare 4)John Keats 5)The Beauty of Woman towers over all these;Scarlett Johansson

[LornaEGL]

@insipidjello haha yeah right Scarlet johanson is better than shakespear and bach XD XD

[thejugglenaut91]

this is not funeral music, it could be used as such. I hate to even look at the picture, as to associate this piece with death. This piece is so monumentally lively in my opinion.

[aidohughes]

Was this recorded Alkmaar?

[bwv768]

@aidohughes Yes, in 1962 at St Laurenskerk.

[Sword1479]

This piece is one of my favorites. Thank you for posting!

[insipidjello]

The picture is the habiliment of death, an impressive self-attitude of the soul staring at itself; what Beauty is produced when Bach places the voice of God in the seat of destruction, sounds we feel intensely yet only the divine understands.

[Keyhan37]

I am realy disappointed that nobody can discribe this kloasal Music work more than (it ´s beautiful or i dont like the picture).This Music is the most genius work from J.S.Bach.if you want to realy underestand and feel it,dont look at the picture,close your eyes and dont let anything to disturbe you .denn you will see the pictures which this music describing.for me is always illustrating the begining of the Univers and how the Galaxies and Stars are borning.this is the cosmic Symphony.Keyhan37

[thejugglenaut91]

there's a reason noone can describe it, it's because NOONE CAN DESCRIBE IT! This music defies words, yet it speaks to me as if a great speech.

[bkire2009]

Not funeral music?  Well, it was good enough for the Queen Mother's!

[AgatheLtb]

Very well played. I do hate such a picture. Please remove it and replace it quickly.

[sibionic]

Oh lighten up you lot!

[MeegMaster]

I'm going to have to agree with M1209l and enamorata1. This piece isn't a requiem, it's the most beautiful thing that could come out of an organ which demands more beautiful pictures of scenery and less black white pictures of... that monstrosity.

[m1209l]

Yes, please remove the picture - it doesn't fit at all and it is quite tasteless! The music speaks for itself, I don't need a picture to tell me how I should understand Bach!

[maricahn]

I agree with U. The picture neither is necessary nor fits.

[enamorata1]

Love this piece of music for no other reason than it is a beautiful piece of music - it has so many complex layers. I never tire of listening to it.

What a hideous and off putting picture though..... it takes away from the music and I can't look at it - please could you remove it - it is just awful!!!

[JaimeSouviens]

We live is such a depraved and mindless age that the mystery of divine redemption is now confused by many with something dark and scary.

[HumMis1349]

I see divine redemption less as dark and scary and more as pure fantasy. And if anything, today we are less depraved than in the good old days of slavery as a labor-saving device, conquest as the mission statement of government, genocide as a means of acquiring real estate, torture and mutilation as routine punishment, the death penalty for misdemeanors and differences of opinion, rape as the spoils of war, homicide as the major form of conflict resolution

[gr0mithtimon]

i agree. we have come quite a way. and we have a long way to go.

[Gonnakillyou]

Best comment I have read in a good few months.

[gmnotyet]

This is not funeral music.

[rpdigital17]

Bach music is not about death and funerals. This is disturbing how ppl say when they hear Bach music: "This is a funeral music!" It is not! It is church music and ment to be something connected to the eternity. Viva la Bach!

[susumu07]

@rpdigital17

Actually Bach DID write a lot of funeral music. It's a documented fact. It's true that THIS piece is not funeral music, but some of his work was.

Bach actually got paid personal commissions for writing funeral music, which is why in his last few years he was pissed off that the winters in Leipzig were too mild - not enough people had died of the flu or pneumonia, so his extra income from funeral music (both composing and performing it) was decreased as the demand for it was less.

[rpdigital17]

@susumu07 Actually that activity was for choir music, so chorales maybe. But that does not go for Passacaglia or Fugues. This piece is deeper than funeral music!

[susumu07]

@rpdigital17

You're right, this piece is NOT funeral music. In fact, nothing that included a fugue in it was EVER used as funeral music. And this piece is far deeper than a funeral hymn... but then again, when you're talking about someone as talented as Bach, even his funeral music would have been very deep and beautiful.

But it's wrong to say (as some have implied) that Bach didn't write funeral music. In fact he pretty much relied on it for extra income for feeding his very big family.

[1712Overture]

@susumu07

Did you ever see some of the letters Bach wrote? He complains in one of them that "when a healthy wind blows" he loses out on the organ playing-fees.

[susumu07]

@1712Overture

Yeah, I know of those letters. Bach hated losing out on 'corpse fees'. Funeral music paid, no doubt about it - though it was far from a constant source of income as the weather showed. Pretty grim though how a cold winter could kill so many people back then. Thing is, so much of Bach's work has been lost that I don't have a clue what his funeral music sounded like. Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

[leoperarm]

great music...the image is simply disgusting and totally out of place :-(

[Powmoro]

@leoperarm in fact, it's perfectly fitting.

[leoperarm]

@Powmoro completely not, this is not funeral music... Bach's complexity actually awakens your senses and mind, it's not for mourning or death,nor gives that sensation of emptyness or sorrow.

[Powmoro]

@leoperarm well music affects everyone in a different way. And this is how it feels to me

[azgalorazgalor17]

@leoperarm c'mon, it totally fits the theme, it sounds like sorrow or death at first...I don't get why people like your comment lol

[MusicPredominates]

@leoperarm : A child after death ? But does this not resemble us all ?

[dragons454]

did Bach really meant this piece for funerals? i think not...

bwt, the organ is perfect. i like this piece. thanks! :D

[swgq]

la interpretacion es excelente pero como van a poner a esa niña yaciendo ahi hace parecer que lo que escribia bach es diabolico el solo escribia para la iglesia.schoroeder.

[EMPERORMIKI]

I wonder how many little girls Bach had to murder to create this work. None probably.

Listen to the music. Getting horned up by dead girls has little to do with the music.

[advisorC101]

That is not something I want to look at while listening to Bach.

But I can see why it was put there.

[runupahill1]

I'm a total newbie. Is this a YouTube contest? Who has the best comment? Who knows the most about music? Who's read the most books? Who has the better feelings, the more respectful attitude? I just want to use this to express my gratitude to musicaergosum, and to endorse his right to decorate it any way he wishes.

[st825y4912]

Whatever Bach evoked is submlime. This masterpiece shall live forever, if only in this brilliant and haunting rendering.

[dvidcyl]

A simple theme and enriched with brilliant harmonic variety, dissonance and emotion which was without parallel from other composers at the time. The theme is clearly manifest in most of the variations and repeats verbatim several times, in contrast to 2 other great theme and variations works, the "Chaconne" and the "Goldberg Variations" where Bach provides even richer variety of feeling and composition by diverging from the original theme. Excellent performance, great piece, distracting photo.

[vk2nf]

I think the picture is beautiful and not disrespectful, the photographer showing the child with great dignity and repose. The image evokes the beauty of transience and evanescence, for me qualities also powerfully communicated in Bach's music. Walcha's performance ranks as the best of many on YT.

[Thepoetastro]

@vk2nf Could not agree with you more! you hit the nail on the head squarely!

God bless us all, the little girl... like my four daughters...

Wishing you well, Primero Dios!

[eugenevez]

remove the pic, please.

[ivancopperfield]

Bach is, as was amazing, and he is my favorite composer. Although many of his compositions reflect on death, most reflect on what life and music and the universe is all about, like his "Fantasia in G major " and "Komm Susser Tod". Whoever posted this does not understand his music and has poor taste as the previous comments says.

[dvidcyl]

The photograph of someone's child with this performance is in extremely disrespectful and in poor taste. How would you like it if someone posted a photo of your own dead child or some other relative as a complement to a piece of music?

[MRMILO57]

dvidcyl .....Completely agree with you.

[gaming4souls]

same i agree with you it is disrespectful to do that.

[Osamabinjackson]

You are right.

[QuixoticTendencies]

1. The picture looks more than 100 years old, so whoever's child this is, they're probably dead as well, and could care less whether somebody's using a picture of their child.

2. Why do we need to respect the dead? Once you die, your body becomes meaningless, worthless, a husk. Why should we respect the potential wishes of a corpse?

[dvidcyl]

The death of someone close is one of the most emotionally painful experiences. Imagining or having experienced the death of someone you love creates the feeling of respect. We don't "need" to respect the dead, we just do.

No one can force you to respect the dead or the living for that matter. But your obtuse lack of feeling, self awareness and compassion is a sign of an emotional handicap not a sign of your intellectual superiority.

[QuixoticTendencies]

The point is that it's highly likely that everyone who has ever known the person in the picture is dead. Whose feelings are we respecting?

[dvidcyl]

My point is that your apparent lack of an emotional response to a this picture of an unknown dead child suggests some emotional handicap. More so because the emotional depth of the music.

Whether everyone who knew the child is dead is irrelevant to a very basic empathic response which you refuse to recognize. You obtusely intellectualize it away. This very same issue was dealt with at length and detail in Turgenev's 19th century novel "Fathers and Sons." You are Bazarov.

[QuixoticTendencies]

That I lack any real emotional response to a picture of a person whose death or life I know nothing of suggests an emotional handicap? There is far too much death in this world to get worked up over a random picture of a corpse, accompanied by processional music. Neither does it help that the performance of said music was nothing less than mediocre. So, before you go and psychoanalyze me over a few comments left on a YouTube video, you should rethink your own emotional response.

[dvidcyl]

My dear Bazarov,

My answer to your rhetorical question is "yes."

The fact that there is too much death is precisely why one might reasonably get "worked up" about this "random picture."

It's not processional music. Processional music has 4 beats per measure, not 3.

If the music is not less than mediocre then it's more than mediocre meaning better than average.

My comments are not even remotely suggestive of psychoanalysis.

Emotional responses are not something which one "rethinks."

[QuixoticTendencies]

Were this picture to be accompanied by more fitting music, or at least a better performance, it might have elicited more of a response from me. Given no information or dramatic setting, there is no real reason that a simple photograph of a dead person should cause such a stirring in my heart.

That is not the sense of "processional" that I was using.

You can judge something's quality based on how good it is or how bad it is. When I wrote "less than", I was judging based on the latter.

[QuixoticTendencies]

"My point is that your apparent lack of an emotional response to a this picture of an unknown dead child suggests some emotional handicap."

Is this not psychoanalysis?

On the contrary, one may often rethink an emotional response when it causes one guilt, such as when one gets angry at a loved one.

As for the moniker you have labeled me with, I would ask if there is something you find wrong with the concept of nihilism other than it does not give you false hope?

[insipidjello]

You are David in Balzac's ' Lost Illusions', a highly introspective skeptic in a world full of socialistic modernity that looks upon the past (the dead, including outmoded moral principles) with contempt. The obvious symbolism in the death masque is apparent; that the music of Bach and the glory of Christ are both eternal; Death is merely a reflection of our deepest fears...If not Balzac, read some Dostoevsky, or better yet, Matthew's Gospel...insipidjello.

[mikeurban9]

Excellent interpretation, insipidjello (in my opinion, of course). This contempt has become increasingly evident in America since the 60's...very corrosive and destructive. It has infected the main stream media, Hollywood, the judiciary,  the universities...

Mikeurban9

[manuelkatarino]

This Passacaglia played in the Pedal Harpsichord by Anthony Newman have an amazing and superb performance

that defeated the test of time, it has never been replicated!!!

[advisorC101]

Actually its simply because the organs needed to be hand pumped back then and that was a little bit too demanding so it was much easier to just compose on a harpsichord and then transcribe for organ as a final score.

[ultranom]

Bach's music reflects on death but from a perspective filled with pure life!! The picture is totally wrong here I am sorry but Bach makes you feel alive not dead your choice was a very poor one.

[beliarnus]

@ultranom I think you did not understand the deeper sens.

[HumMis1349]

@ultranom I prefer the feeling of death.

[azgalorazgalor17]

@ultranom The image is fine...life, death whatever, the fact it sounds sorrowful...

[Naujlo]

Harpsicord? Why?

[Naujlo]

I really like his playing. I wonder how Bach would have played it?

[pipeorganloverNJP]

Excellent registration. Uber-perfect performance! Every note is distinct and clear. What I really mavel at is the fact that Walcha, even with the misfortune of not being able to see, NEVER made a single mistake, while some of us even more unfortunate people make tons of mistakes even with good eyes.

[parazsdavid]

I can only play the piano yet my dream is to play this piece on an organ. I MUST PLAY BACH ON ORGAN! Music has nothing to do with sight.

[nessie96]

My absolute favorite Bach organ piece....amazing performance!!!

[Westgate666]

Paricularly telling are the passages between minutes 5 and 6, where the melody "disintigrates" into gentle, quiet single-note arpeggios... quite stunning! Altogether, quite a winner all around!

[robertgift]

Wonderful performance, Helmut.

Some areas are an absolute joy - a celebration.

Clear, stunning articulation and detail.

Never heard better.

[pois06]

I don't see Bach - or any other composer - as a builder of vain tecnical apeals. If he chose to compose in variations, that was probably to put his thoughts or feelings in a better comprehensible form.

Sorry for the awful english...

[Tomahawk674]

Well, we are all entitled to our opinion. However, I personally don't think this work is about life and death; Bach's main source of inspiration was God, hence "Soli Deo Gloria". However I don't think the Passacaglia is is one of his most secular works, but an excercise in variation that's pure genious.

[Tomahawk674]

I like the recording, but why a deceased infant for a picture?

[musicaergosum]

This work (and this recording) makes a strong, deep, sweet, terrifying relation between life and death.

Like a bridge between life and death.

But my english is too bad...

[JaffarAleksandersson]

even if you think that this composition is about life and death, then it is not appropriate to put the picture of a dead child here, it's too brutal, plus it's life AND death - not only death.

[albertop952]

I agree, it is too brutal.

[leeemo]

Eh, I like the picture, it's not just a picture about death, it's a picture about death after such a short life, a rather recent death after such a short life. OK maybe it is only about death...

[pipeorganloverNJP]

Yeah, you should have put up a picture of Walcha himself. Even though it's only a picture, in the other Walcha recordings the picture complements the recording. We can actually picture in our heads Walcha playing the piece.

[RuffleCoptah]

@musicaergosum Well said, sir.