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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Sunday Song: Bach's "Fiddle" Fugue in D minor, BWV 539

Happy Father's Day!

Frederick Hohman plays Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fiddle" Fugue in D minor, BWV 539, on the Flentrop organ at Busch Hall at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This is one instance where J. S. Bach (1685-1750) transcribed a piece for the pipe organ that he originally composed for a different music medium. This fugue is found as the second movement in Bach's Sonata No. 1 for Solo Violin in G minor, BWV 1001. When adapting the fugue for solo organ, Bach transposed the work to the key of D minor, and added many passages which were not in the violin original, which embellish and enhance the work. Therefore, this organ fugue has earned a nickname: "The Fiddle."

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