Fantasia and fugue in A minor arranged for two pianos

Fugue · in A minor

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750
A minor
Key
Fugue
Form
Score
First page of Fantasia and fugue in A minor arranged for two pianos

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Themes & character
Two-piano arrangement·Baroque counterpoint·Transcription tradition·Organ origins

At a glance

Key
A minor
Form
Fugue

About the piece

An arrangement for two pianos of one of Bach's organ works, part of the vast nineteenth and twentieth century industry of transcribing him for the modern piano. Liszt, Busoni, Tausig, Reger and many others made such arrangements, and for a long period they were how most listeners encountered Bach at all. The practice fell out of favour with the rise of historically informed performance, then returned as pianists reclaimed the transcriptions as works in their own right.

The composer

Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
1685–1750

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

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