Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, organ

smalin 110 videos
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8,052,404
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smalin | December 10, 2005

Bach's most famous organ piece, with a bar-graph score. FAQ Q: Can I downlo...

smalin | December 10, 2005

Bach's most famous organ piece, with a bar-graph score.

FAQ

Q: Can I download a version to play on my computer/iPod/iPad/iPhone/etc.?
A: Yes, you can get that here:
http://musanim.cerizmo.com/items/6950...

Q: Where can I get free sheet music for this piece?
A: Sheet music for this can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/243oyo

Q: Who wrote Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor?
Q: Isn't that like asking who's buried in Grant's Tomb?
A: Heh-heh. A theory has recently (1981) been put forth that J. S. Bach did not write this piece. A brief summary of the supporting evidence for this theory can be read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_...

Q: What's wrong with synchronization?
A: I don't know, but it appears that if you use this URL, it works better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9b...

Q: Where can I get the mp3 of this?
A: You can download it here:
http://www.musanim.com/mp3/BachToccat...

Q: Where can I get the MIDI file that this was made from?
A: I'm not sure it's exactly the same, but the closest I could find was this:
http://www.musanim.com/mid/ToccataAnd...

Q: Hey, what happened to my question/comment?
A: Questions answered in the FAQ, and comments with nothing to do with the video ("spam"), are removed. If you posted a comment and don't know why it's gone, email me (stephen at musanim dot com) with "YouTube comment" in the subject line.

Q: How did you make this video?
A: You can read about it here:
http://www.musanim.com/ProductionNote...

Q: How can I make videos like this (or at least see MIDI files this way)?
A: Check out this:
http://www.musanim.com/player/

Q: What is the BWV number for this?
A: BWV 565

Q: Where does the toccata end and the fugue begin?
A: The fugue starts at 2:51 and the toccata returns at 7:12, but between these two points, parts which are strictly fugal alternate with episodes that are more toccata-like, so it's not 100% clear-cut (like in some other toccata/fugue pairs he wrote).

Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Each "stop" on the organ was played on a separate MIDI channel, and each MIDI channel was assigned a color.

Q: What is a fugue?
A: Here is a good introduction:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue

Q: Can I get a DVD with this video (or others like it)?
A: Yes:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/video.html

Q: Could you do a MAM video of _________?
A: Please read this:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMRequest...

Q: The audio/video isn't very good; can I get the original?
A: Yes, you can get it here (you have to sign up, but then you can download it):
http://www.vimeo.com/user=musanim/clips

Q: Where can I read more about this piece?
A: Here are a couple of places:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/ViewersGui...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_...

Q: Why does this piece of music remind me of horror movies?
A: Because it was used in the 1962 version of The Phantom of the Opera. Before that, it did not have that connotation. When Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski used it in the 1940 film Fantasia, they considered it to be a purely abstract piece --- "absolute music" --- which brought to mind expressionistic forms and lines.
.

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Uploader Comments (smalin)

  • night on bald mountain please

  • @Nathanalism See "Could you do..." in the FAQ.

  • i want this animation for jazz music

  • @Frazz0 Get some jazz players interested in working with me.

  • There is a lot of information in the FAQ and the links. But I did not understand how this was built. In short and in clear form, how was it performed? Maybe this should be the first question in the FAQ, with a short answer (no more than five sentences).

  • @drolive1 The "performance" aspect of this is not simple; it's covered in item 3 in the Production Notes (follow the "How did you make this video?" item in the FAQ. The simple answer is "I used the conductor program," but explaining how that works is the job of the article on that subject ("Computer-Assisted Performance").

see all

All Comments (11,052)

  • That blew my mind.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach (March 31, 1685, Eisenach - July 28, 1750, Leipzig) We love You Maestro,Rest In Peace -_-

  • makes me soo sleepy but i luv the way it sounds so much

  • I like that thing, i used to play that for my music sch.graduate year, but in this arrangement ,there are several technical mistakes. If was possible to correct timing, there are many parts where the individual notes of voices are really desync and missmatched lenght,but fine.

    There are only few people on planet which understand that so far that it will be near to perfect, and I salute to everyone them them.

    The most correct version for me so far - here also as "J.S.Bach - Organ Toccata"

  • @Robotman42 True, It is written specificaly for organ, you can try play that on the piano, but not same, the long tones especialy lo-ones are elementary for this harmony

  • amazing!!!!

  • Beautiful...

  • wasn't it used in "The Clockwork Orange?

  • although its dating is uncertain it´s thought that tha giant J.S.Bach wrote this piece in 1708, of course not too much to say about one of the most famous scores min all history of music of any age except that it´s out of this world, only a human soul touched directly by God´s hand could have composed such a beauty

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