Bach, Fugue 20, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, A minor, BWV 889

[Superstarrockmetal]

ugliest Bach I've ever heard

[erikopalis]

the dos and dees and dums and dohs are the thing that make this peice weard.

[erikopalis]

do do do do dee dee dum dum ? that's what it sounded like.

[Neonalfax]

The start of the fugue reminded me 'Kyrie Eleison' of Mozart K626...

[hk47829]

The dohs sound like the simpsons

[countersubject889]

favoloso!



[Kronimiciad]

What instruments normally play this piece?

[smalin]

@Kronimiciad Keyboard instruments ("clavier" means "keyboard").

[ArmenianSnipe13]

@smalin And "Klavier" is German for piano. :D

[smalin]

@ArmenianSnipe13 Not exactly. Bach used the word to refer to keyboards before there were pianos. If German-speaking people these days want to be precise (and make it clear that they're referring to a piano and not some other keyboard), they say "Flügel" (which also means "wing"). But they use the word "Klavier" loosely, somewhat the way we use the word "horn" loosely to refer to any wind instrument.

[orangeandaxe]

@smalin Not exactly. The precise word is Klimperkasten (literally "clinking box")

[smalin]

@orangeandaxe Okay ... but what about "Klavier"? Does that mean "piano" or "keyboard"? Would it be a mistake to call a harpsichord a "Klavier" in German?

[orangeandaxe]

@smalin Klavier is a general term, so it would not be wrong, but the original (now old) term for harpsichord is "das Clavicymbel" - similar to "cembalo"

[smalin]

@orangeandaxe So, to distinguish a piano from a harpsichord, a German would not say "Klavier" (since that applies to both) but something else, right?

[orangeandaxe]

@smalin a real music enthusiast would refer to the piano as "Flügel" or "Klimperkasten" to avoid confusion when both instruments are present

[1banders]

@smalin In modern German "Klavier" means piano. "Fluegel" (literally "wing") is also used for piano. A "grand piano" is "Konzertfluegel"

But in Bach's time, "Clavier" (as it was spelled then) was a generic term that could refer to any kind of keyboard instrument, or even to a manual (i.e, keyboard) of an organ. A specifc term for harpsichord was "Cembalo" (from the Italian Clavicembalo). But unless precluded by the context, Clavier was typically understood to mean harpsichord..

[SuperBabel2]

Etonnant non ? D.BABEL

[TheReturnoftheNative]

Sounds like the X files theme tune.

[markmusic69]

??????

[UberMenschNowFilms]

@markmusic69 !!!!!!!

[unpodimusica1]

What a great idea, this voice-keyboard! Reminds me of the Swingle Singers - which is probably what it's supposed to do. Very interesting interpretation - your work is wonderful.

[AnAmericanComposer]

doh!

[sammypark333]

@AnAmericanComposer :D

[samthegreat4]

Concerning the whole minor/major ending debate.

The proper term for an ending with a major chord is: Picardy Third.

It was widely used in the Baroque by Bach and his contemporaries and came up in the Renaissance. It was perpetuated in the practice of musica ficta and so became a convention. Some Baroque sources reveal that the use of such a picardy third was already so incorporated that it wasn't noted in a piece under the assumption that the performer would realise it anyway.

[Alon235235]

Doo di doo doo

Sounds like multiple GIRs are singing this

[KittyAW]

@Alon235235 agreed!

[trevjr]

i know when i play Bach minor pieces i decide on major or minor ending at the last second, it depends on how i am feeling. some minor pieces demand the major ending, depending on the style of the piece. like the Bb minor fugue Bk.2, it is such a great fugue the major ending seems natural. like most Bach, the performer gets to put his personality in the music from the lack of indications. i generally prefer whatever Glenn Gould does. a pianist playing Bach like Bach. listen to Gould play this...

[ImDrunkOnBaileys]

that just made my day *****

[wiseman2131]

Doo Doo Doo....

[alb84guitar]

The beginning of this fugue reminds me the And with his stripes aria from Handel's Messiah as well as the Kyrie from Mozart's Requiem

[staystilljason]

The intro reminded me of Mozart's Kyrie Eleison

[RICPOIRIER1]

Spécial!

[jonnsmusich]

Your a really decent pianist. Prefer it to the distraction of the synthetic sound. But fair enough.... each to his own. Bach can Handel (sic) it.

[chopinop9no2]

It sounds great with the top two voices, but the bottom sounds as if you auto-tuned someone humming while they were constantly moving a finger up and down over their lips.

[luteguitar]

Is something old but I just want to say that smalin is right, wasn't the minor chord but the tritone that was called "Diabolus in musica" .

[symir547]

Awesome! Sounds like Wendy Carlos music

[Esosphere]

Ending a "minor" piece with a major chord is called a

"Picardy Third"

[xp0ferens]

i like picardy third

[mbggold]

What the F? It ends in an A MAJOR CHORD! They messed up... Bach rarely uses a minor chord because of period conventions.

[smalin]

In some minor-key pieces in the Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach explicitly indicated a major ending; in others (like this one), he didn't.

I tried it both ways, and I liked it better with the minor ending, so that's how I played it. So, if you're going to criticize the ending, it would have to be on the basis of taste, not correctness.

[mbggold]

According to my urtext edition, it is Major. Urtext editions were made by historical research from some of the most respected music professors of all time.

[smalin]

No, an urtext edition is not based on the opinion of a music professor, it is based on what was in the original score (ur=original). So, the question is: what source (that is, what manuscript) was your urtext based on, and why do you chose to trust that source over another?

[mbggold]

No, what I meant was Urtext editions are compiled by professors on the basis of the original score. Of course, one rarely finds originals from Bach, so the basis is from copies handed down directly from Bach or as close as possible to Bach. Scholars trace down these copies to find their origin, and use the closest copies available in Urtext.

[smalin]

Right, and in the case of this fugue, those copies do not agree. If you check the appendix, you can see which sources have the major ending and which don't. Then, the question is: whose idea was the sharp?  Was it Bach's idea, or did someone later add it?

I've been studying and playing Bach's music for about forty years. I majored in music theory and composition. Do I count as a "scholar"? Can I trust my own judgment on which ending sounds better, or should I bow to a professor?

[mbggold]

It's not your own judgement that determins the ending, but rather what Bach wrote. I guess it's still disputed.

[smalin]

During Bach's time, the final chord of a minor piece was sometimes played major (even if notated minor). This wasn't consistent, even for a given piece; it was a matter of taste (and style). If Bach wrote this as minor, he might have played it minor or major.

To me, it seems more likely that a copyist would add a sharp at the end than remove it. So, since the sources disagree, my guess is that the original lacked the sharp.

But my case for minor is based on aesthetics more than history.

[mbggold]

I have heard that pieces in the Renaissance and Baroque periods end in a major key, because minor was a sign of the devil.

[smalin]

I've never heard anything like that; do you have a source for it? I've heard of the association of a tritone with the devil, but not minor keys. I mean, if a minor key was diabolical, why risk writing a piece in minor?

My understanding was that a major triad was consider more "consonant" --- perhaps because the harmonic series contains a major chord but not a minor chord and therefore more stable, more resolved, more "complete."

[jeevescat420]

@smalin I agree and all of your songs are awesome

[danielchong1234]

@mbggold sign of devil? what does tat mean.i am very interested.i am still new to what major and minor symbolise.^^

[Allornon]

@mbggold totally not true

[mikepenny01]

Well, I'm sure I speak for most of your viewers when I say you can trust your own judgement, Mr. Malinowski. We trust your aesthetic sensibility!

[mbggold]

One of my favorite fugues by Bach. THe prelude is also cool.

I love how it's sung by voices, and that each part in the fugue is written on a separate staff :)

[tough0crowd0eh9]

No matter how dumb this sounds, I'm sure it took you forever. So I give you mad props

[5RetardedSquirrels]

This a very nice musical joke. Its good to know Bach had a sense of humor.

[VolkColopatrion]

This wasn't meant to be sung was it?

I think I'd faint if i heard this sung.

[AnnaRose5225]

i had to laugh because the higher-pitched do's sound a little like gir!

[Necrokutan]

Every time I hear these, all I can think of is A Clockwork Orange. Very nice, though- 5 stars as usual. heheh

[Deppell]

d'oh d'oh d'oooh d,d,d,d,d,d'oooh

Homer Simpson would like that ^^

[smalin]

Yeah, you never knew Homer was a scat singer.

D'oh!

[geilman]

Ok seriously one of the weirdest things I've ever listened to... i was actually frightened at the beginning as I've been awake too long and thought i was having auditory hallucinations!

[smalin]

Check out the prelude; I think it's a little better.

[deepm0e]

hi smalin, i thought that the "well tempered" stuff that bach did was in major scales? but it would seem i was mistaken?

[smalin]

No, "well-tempered" refers to how scales are tuned, not which scale you use. See Wikipedia.

[TheBeethooven]

Amazing Sound :D

[123Calvario]

I like your videos very much, but I have to say that I, FOR ONE, find these sounds annoying.

[smalin]

If that's the case, you probably shouldn't listen to the prelude of this fugue (which I will upload in a few minutes); it's the same sound, only moreso.

[FlamingRuby]

I think it sounds pretty cool! Will you do more like this?

[smalin]

I just did; watch the prelude.

[FlamingRuby]

Just did, and it's amazing.

[AkiraBergman]

Another great vid.

A suggestion; If you marked the octaves of the tone in bands of different gray background to the bar chart, it would be more educational.

[smalin]

I don't see why that would make it more educational.

[AkiraBergman]

There would be reflections at the root boundaries.

[smalin]

What does that mean? What is a root boundary, and what do you mean by "reflection"?

[AkiraBergman]

Basically I am suggesting some kind of staff for the bar chart. Maybe this staff would not be lines, but bands of gray in the background. The root boundary is the line the root is at. Reflections refer to the symmetry operations on phrases and chords around important lines of the staff, like the root, 5th, 3rd etc.

[smalin]

Okay, so you're saying it would be educational for people to see where the root is ... of course, for that to be useful, they'd have to know what a root *is* (which the video would not be able to explain). For people who can read music, the root is visible in the conventional score.

I'm not aware that there are any "symmetry operations on phrases and chords" in this piece ... can you tell me what you mean about that?

[AkiraBergman]

Bach balances emotion and structure and achieves deep and moving energy. This structure utilizes the symmetry of the well tempered scale which is a spiral. Bach's special sound comes from the way he modularizes phrases in reflection of this spiral. Bach's symmetry is a rich form of the symmetry of self similarity.

The staff reflects itself it many ways to the piece it contains.

[heyjudenanana]

@AkiraBergman You are severely overcomplicating things. Anyone wanting to learn about those sorts of structure and phrasing has enough musical background to figure them out themselves. The overwhelming result would be confused viewers, not any real lesson into Bach's musical formula.

[AmateurViolinist]

@smalin Maybe not more "educational" but it might better illustrate the values of the pitches. I think it would be interesting.

[Carassius8]

Thank you.  More please! Especially Bach!!!

[stargirlsusan]

that sounded as if someone was makind those sounds, preety cool i think, 5* man, thnx

[smalin]

Well, yeah, it should sound that way ... I was making the sounds. My voice was being processed, but it started out as my voice.

[Zzyshhh]

why u chosed this sound?

was intentional?

[smalin]

It's the sound that comes out of the VP-550 when I sing into it. I was playing with the VP-550, trying it out on various pieces, and this piece seemed like a good one for it. (That is, it's not that I was thinking about this piece, and asked myself the question "what sound would be best for this?")

[mrpitchf0rk]

Sadly, short :(

[smalin]

I'm thinking about doing a longer one this way ...

[MoosaiLuver]

DO IT!! I'd love to see a longer version of this video! The song was kick ass, man!

[ricardopickman]

It's so Wendy Carlos, isn't it?.

[mrpitchf0rk]

So very, that was srsly my very first thought.

Smalin, how I love you.

[Svetty00]

Nice fugue but I find it hard to hear everything clearly with this vocal patch.

[smalin]

Yes, I agree. Maybe when I get better at singing/playing, it will get clearer. I'm just getting used to this instrument.

[necrocona]

simply amazing...

[FlamingRuby]

Sounds like a cross between a voice and a harmonica.

[pianogirl98]

Very interesting to hear vocal ensemble of this piece!!!

Vivian is practicing this piece on piano and will have a performance in a few weeks.....

[smalin]

This (together with the prelude) was the only piece I ever played solo in a school recital.

I look forward to hearing Vivian's performance.

Vivian might be interested to try playing this from the "open" (one line per voice) version of the score (free download of the PDF in the FAQ). It's a bit harder than reading from the two-staff version, but it helps you develop your sense of the individuality of the parts, and helps you think contrapuntally.

[bumbumfx]

very nice indeed!

[B8Av3]

Lol, gurgling noises! Amazing. Time worth spent. =)

[RockLobsta23]

well its about time!

[zeryx28]

Yay! Another fugue!

[bachaddict]

sung keyboard trills sound funny!

[TheExPlOiTeDOne619]

I like how you left the sheet music on here as well!

[TheExPlOiTeDOne619]

Awesomeness! :D!