Wedge fugue in E minor - Bach

Fugue from Prelude and Fugue BWV 548 in e minor. Shows off the bass registers of the instrument well.
Ask yourself who on earth allowed the makers to shove a mirror over the Oberwerk.

[@rca7707]

Pipe organs are so mindblowing; it's stunning that someone can play one let alone have invented it. Two hands and feet doing different things. Wow!

[@dnephi]

This is my favorite Bach work. Ingenious counterpoint, dramatic conception, and gorgeous lyricism combine to create a work of epic proportions as Bach's longest fugue.

[@smalin]

You may be a kid, but you know a lot ... all this time I thought BWV was some kind of German car.

[@kneza96BG]

hey Stephen, when are you gonna make a video of this? :)

[@jfinxindid]

​@@kneza96BGonly took him 16 years

[@kneza96BG]

@@jfinxindid hoooly, forgot i left this comment here. Thank you Stephen

[@Rocker1811]

war für ein Genie J.S.Bach doch war!!!!!! Gott der Orgelmusik!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Genial!!!! nur er hat solch meisterstücke rausgebracht!!!!!!!!!!!! Verneige mich ganz tief vor diesem einzigartigem Künstler!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ceciliakable]

Everytime I hear the 'very talented' John Scott Whitely play the music of Bach it reminds me just how wonderful that we can still enjoy the extraordinary God-given talents of a man who lived centuries ago. And I have all 150 cds of Bach's music!!! Long live Bach!!!

[@timotheospetros]

I vote Bach's Wedge Fugue the greatest organ piece ever written.

[@wedgefugue6260]

I agree

[@rrkdudas6848]

Timotheos Petros definitely

[@kennethpalmowski-wolfe7923]

Agreed - except there are at least a dozen more by Bach that also qualify.

[@brv1111]

Yes I kind of agree but would say Passacaglia in C just pips it. Equally Fantasia and Fugue in G minor. Have a listen below and see if you agree. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKLUqahjftB-pJo kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpindmahodCgqrM

[@stylusfantasticus]

if not for the Passacaglia...

[@hyoseonl11]

As sometimes with Bach, I found this Fugue very strange at first - but I keep coming Bach for more and discover new things upon every hearing - such a grand work!

[@all1rog]

Superb performance of one of Bach's greatest organ fugues, with some unusual camerawork!

[@robertgift]

Thank you, ZachariasHildebrandt, for posting this. So nice to start out one's day in the early morning withis magnificent work and fun to see some parts of the video. This organ fugue of Bach is my favorite. Love the interesting descending and ascending chromaticism of the subject and robust countersubject. The mirror was set there temporarily for the video. (It would be fun to play the Brustwerk with such short notes!)

[@flentrop2009]

such a great fugue, and probably one of the hardests that Bach ever put to paper. Bravo!

[@Vittoria10538]

I listened to this many, many times, about 40 years ago. I found I can still hum along with most passages. Bach stays with you.

[@bachkirche]

As Goethe put it so perfectly on hearing Bach organ: "It was as though eternal harmony were conversing with itself, the way it must have been in God's bosom the moment before He created the world".

[@PerrrfictKats]

Just found out that J.S.Bach 's oldest son Wilhelm Friedmann had a daughter named Frederica Sophia Bach who immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Oklahoma. Her current decendant as of 3.16.2010 is Debra Colburn."Bach Persectives Vol.5. Bach In America. Christoph Wolff University of Illinois Press. Perhaps thats how Bach's portrait and Bible came to the U.S.

[@matthewpearson9970]

He forgot to switch the blower off at the end... Just jumped off the bench and trotted off. Superb performance, includes the trills in the pedal part which many other top drawer organists omit

[@pantonality]

I have CDs (and LPs) by many organists. You asked about Bach and I responded to that. This piece by Bach is one of his greatest works (period). The part that you asked about is where Bach allows things to "go crazy" for a moment before bringing the music back for the recapitulation. He does similar things in other pieces (the cadenza of the 5th Brandenburg and the Chaconne for violin come to mind).

[@clino4]

I first heard this figure twenty years ago and didn't enjoy it at I didn't 'get' it. Now I do and the prelude and fugue are my favourite bach organ works and I can't listen to it enough, particularly this version. I love the relentless tempo, the registration and everything really. This must be the music they play in heaven

[@ds1868]

Great sound recording of this masterpiece, recorded by the BBC in the series '21st Century Bach'. Many thanks for posting!

[@rjmbbassett]

Exzellentes Orgelspiel! Wunderbare Orgel! Großartiges Werk!

[@Wak017]

This song is beyond any expectations of what I thought I'd hear during my life.

[@ZL54JK8]

Song? There are no words.

[@NPorganist]

Wow! Towering masterpiece of a fugue. Who but Bach could take a fairly simple subject and weave such a gigantic fugue around it? Love the ABA construction of the piece. The return to the opening section after the middle section is simple wonderful.

[@alexanderbayramov2626]

This spider at 2:52

[@FlowerFreakinPower]

THE GIANT ENEMY SPIDER

[@cedric3690]

Bach sounds like God !!! No other music glorificates the intellect and God like Bach does!

[@NihilNominis]

Those dark glasses really set the mood. Excellently played, this man is a fine organist.

[@ds1868]

Another nice recording of John Scott Whiteley, sub-organist of York Minster, recorded by the BBC in the series 'Twenty-First Century Bach.' And what a superb organ! Thanks for posting.

[@AdamHWarren]

Sir, he's a great friend from University, and there is something God-like about great music played so beautifully. While we were there, he was well-liked at our college.

[@jrssjdca]

That's a pretty good way of putting it. I watch all these videos of Bach's organ works, and all these musicians get absorbed completely in the performance. One guy from France closed his eyes with a look of being consumed upon finishing his performance as if to harbor regret that it was over.

[@MitchBoucherComposer]

I'll never stop enjoying this video.

[@ghfjfghjasdfasdf]

That was epic beyond words.

[@BD-ds5kg]

Not rushed, this is perfect. Likely the most difficult fugue Bach ever wrote

[@Tralfaz2007]

This video really does a good job at capturing the cold, posthuman beauty of the piece. Bach seems to have been mapping a landscape where humans had never been. And maybe never will be.

[@MartinSmithMFM]

I beleive this video is fast on the way to becoming a classic. The inexorable quality of Bach's most inward and chthonic of 'summits of tonality', allied to the Svengali-like stasis of JSW, creates an almost Hitchcockian tension, which only that last cadence (to my ear in F sharp!) can resolve...! Hats off, gentlemen, a genius (or several)![Schumann of Chopin]

[@Vasilis1987]

what can i say for j.s.bach..what a genius...the moment 4:44 to 5:10, i cant breathe...what amazing passage...thanks j.s bach.

[@andreacosta74]

Threw out all the Silbermann's! THIS IS THE BACH ORGAN! North-german styled, few thirds nasal-sounding ranks, many reeds...

[@rrkdudas6848]

how is this north German styled? this is probably the best example of a South German organ, aside from Trost in Waltershausen

[@martykoll]

Well, what can one say; tremendous bass! Very, very well played! 400 year old 'technology' even more amazing! Hope you and Mr Whitely can produce many more of these delights!

[@terbear1963]

Bach was a genious!! This guy plays the organ perfectly as well!!

[@roerfluit]

Superior performance; great transparency of the architecture and above all: great musician, thank you for enjoying again and again.

[@claviergoren]

His playing is exquisite. The playing is effortless even on this period instrument. I'll take an AGO standard console any day. Thanks for such a beautiful rendition to the wedge fugue!!

[@ml3229]

One word to summarize - WONDERFUL!

[@NPorganist]

@quarknugget A fugue is where the subject (opening theme, if you like) is repeated in the various parts with a counter-subject heard against it. In the wedge fugue (so called as it starts from a single note then fans out like a wedge) the subject is introduced with the left hand then repeated slightly later in the right hand then announced on the pedals, with great effect. In the middle section (B) the theme is varied slightly and with an extremely complex running manual accompaniment.

[@ccoraxfan]

When the stop is on, the holes in the slider are aligned with the holes in the top board, and the wind from the note channel below is now free to enter the pipe, which sits in the sound board above the slider. Different ranks of pipes are arranged across the chest, and they all get their wind from the same note channel, which is controlled by the one key and its pallet valve. The ranks which have their sliders open (stops pulled) will sound when that note is played.

[@jrssjdca]

I took classical guitar lessons in the early 80s, and my teacher was a big fan of Bach. He used to tell me that Bach was a master at dissonance, to the point of the chaos you mentioned, only to pull it back at the exact right time.

[@mudog35]

thank you.....this is a wonderfull piece of music, it would probably take me 10 yrs to learn it.

[@hellspark]

everything about this amazes me. how could one person write such an incredible music? and how could such a beautiful yet terrifying instrument be built and make such sound to match it? its incredible. i don't care what anyone says, classical organ scores are the greatest.

[@ccoraxfan]

The organist presses a key, which is actually a lever. This lever moves a series of mechanical linkages: some are pushed on (stickers), some are pulled on (trackers) and some are turned (rollers and squares.) Stickers and trackers are used to transmit motion in straight lines, rollers are used to shift the motion sideways over varying distances, and squares are used to change direction at right angles.

[@3NUNS]

Interesting to note is that the fugue is actually a bouree with the semi-quaver divisions being the traditional doubles or variants to the thematic bouree..

[@tuxedomoon]

After so mayny centuries and sounds so fresh ,this is a mastepiece beyond time by the mature Bach

[@WilliamVEdwards]

"It is truly one of the most breathtaking examples in all of the fugue repertoire." Yes I agree completely and is one of my favourites along with the thema fugatum of the Passacaglia in C minor. This particular recording with its slower, pensive pace, I feel, has both pros and cons. After having listened to this a number of times it has grown on me. His rendition of the Passacaglia is also good in my view, though the liberal ornamentation of the simpler sections may not be to everyone's taste

[@Zeppolino100]

I'm awestruck. Music this amazing, an organ so magnificent, performance so compelling, all restores my faith in humankind. If only more people listened to music like this they'd turn off that godforsaken reality TV....

[@ccoraxfan]

Reed pipes use a thin brass reed similar to the reed of a woodwind instrument. This reed vibrates against a slot in the side of a brass tube called a shallot. Reeds create more of a sharp, brassy or buzzy sound as compared to flue pipes. The reed and shallot are enclosed in a tube called a boot which sits on the windchest. Above the reed is the resonator, which varies in size and shape depending on the type of reed.

[@ccoraxfan]

When the action reaches the windchest, it ends in a pulldown wire which goes into the bottom of the chest and attaches to one end of a flat piece of wood called a pallet. This area of the chest, called the pallet box, contains wind under pressure. The pallet covers a rectangular hole which opens into the note channel above. When the key is pressed, the pallet is pulled open and wind enters the channel.

[@GZ9090]

What an astounding performance of this Fugue i personally beleive this is the best version of it on you tube but thats just my opinion! His Pedal playing is unique!

[@robertgift]

His Die Kunst der Fuge is best I have heard by anyone, ever. Wish I had ability to post any of it. Contrapunctus 11? is absolutely wonderful and overwhelming. Bravo Helmut.

[@ccoraxfan]

The sliders are operated through a mechanism similar to that of the keys, only heavier. This mechanism begins with the large knobs you see surrounding the console. When a knob is pushed in, it moves the slider for that rank of pipes so the holes are out of alignment, and stops the air from entering the pipes. This is why these knobs are called stops.

[@stevenschrier4207]

It's good to hear the music of J.S. Bach masterfully performed by British organist John Scott Whiteley. His technique is very steady and consistent, without excessive embellishment or dramatic tempo variations. To me his organ performance videos are a great way for the listener to learn the structure of the Bach's counterpoint. Anthony Newman has also filmed a new series of Bach organ performances with similar qualities of interpretation. Musicologists have told me Bach composed most of his music without written performance directions. The open style of Bach's compositions is such that his music can be transcribed for many other instrumental groups. The compositions provide a wide latitude for individual interpretation. And at least to me, on these KZbin videos, organist John Scott Whiteley appears to have a physical resemblance (aside from sunglasses) to J.S. Bach himself when compared to some of Bach's Leipzig portraits. It's a good and somewhat transcendental effect, imho :)

[@Johannes999999999]

Fugues truely are one of humanity's greatest artistic achievements.

[@tmwysong]

What a great piece of music the Passacaglia is. I just read about the history of the piece and the organ duel that never was. Fascinating.

[@ccoraxfan]

Wind is produced with a blower or by hand with bellows. Tremulants are used to "shake" the wind supply for a vibrato effect, and swell shades (a 19th century invention) allow the volume of a division in a swell box to be adjusted. Swell shades (if present) are controlled by the tilting swell shoes above the pedal board. Many other details can be spoken of, but this is the basic way the organ works.

[@baroquian1685]

This is the newly restored Hildebrandt organ at St. Wenzelskirche in Naumburg. I was there just two weeks ago and got to play the instrument a little. It's truly magnificent.

[@oludotunjohnshowemimo434]

Did Bach improvise this from a theme? Majority of his pieces, he improvised from musical themes and this is a good example of another theme he improvised on. He was a musical genius, the best of all time and still sets the musical bar today. Bachwas the Director of Music in Leipzig and he had to compose cantatas every week for Sunday service. Bach was definitely a busy man. Bach also wrote music for other instruments such as the cello, even though predominantly, he composed for the pipe organ.

[@MitchBoucherComposer]

I'm not sure, but it would be interesting if so...

[@glennmr2007]

Wow - yet another cool master of his trade!

[@LaserXV2]

I love this piece very much and the organist is brilliant!!!

[@pchantreau]

Very astute remark from your guitar teacher, and this piece is a perfect illustration for it. It must have been as close as free jazz as could be done in these days. I wonder if anyone actually played it with any success in Bach's days. I remember Marie-Claire Alain describing how the harmony was out of this world in this piece. Coming from her, that was an impressive statement (impressed me anyways)...

[@therealEmpyre]

I read somewhere that while he was alive, Bach was famous not as a composer, but as an organist. I can see how people would be impressed when he played a piece like this.

[@3NUNS]

the soprano pedal points are such a delight

[@7777777mike]

THIS IS PERFECKT. Fine organ, nice church, Naumburg is always worthwile visiting!

[@ForestChav]

As for the stops themselves, they control ranks of pipes, basically the ranks of pipes are transposed at various octaves, and contain one pipe (or more, if we're talking about a Mixture stop which is quite complex) per key. A bit like a piano, but that would characteristically be one "rank" in organ terms. The pipes are rated in feet according to their pitch - 8' is normal pitch, 16' an octave lower np, 4' an octave up from, n/p, etc etc

[@ccoraxfan]

There are also mutation ranks that speak at non-unison intervals, and often celeste ranks which are slightly off pitch to create an undulating sound. The pedals work the same as the manuals, just with fewer notes and more low pitches. Each manual and the pedals form divisions, and couplers allow the playing of other divisions from one manual or the pedals. When couplers are engaged, you will see keys move without a finger on them.

[@kepler101]

the sun glasses make him look like a badass, am sure Bach would approve.

[@ccoraxfan]

Some newer organs have electric mechanisms to move the stops, operated by preset buttons beneath the keys and above the pedals. This is an automated registration assistant. The registration is the combination of stops used at any given moment.

[@lilky48]

the complexity itself amazes me

[@mudog35]

It is great music, I am just amazed of the talent and coordination it would take to learn a piece such as this.

[@ProfMoose]

Isn't it refreshing to find something this well produced on KZbin? Even most of the swearing in the comments seems justified. Oooo that sounds good.

[@angryjalapeno]

Fantastic performance. The cinematography is um ... unusual.

[@warszawianka]

One of the most difficult pieces for organ ever composed - it has three-way counterpoint at times, which means (for you non musicians out there) each hand is playing a different melody, as are the feet on the bass registers. In other words, faffing amazing.

[@ForestChav]

And then the stops are divided into different types according to the sound they produce. Generally, you have flutes (which are high aspect, ie wide, pipes usually wooden), principals/diapasons (which work like a recorder), and reed stops (which have a reed inside a pipe for resonation).

[@matthew348]

This Man has so much skill. i am a mere novice compared. Great sounds from this organ.Please post more videos.

[@ollioikarinen]

I just visited Thomaskirche (Leipzig) this summer - trying to feel how mr. Bach himself once touched the same door handles etc.I did. However, I remember (when studying music) Bach's original crowd thought this music is too "majestetic" and "mathematical"... I can imagine it, and it is, but it feels and sounds wonderful in 2018 (and also back then I think).

[@ForestChav]

In France a lower pitch called Kammerton originated in winds (c.415 Hz) which is commonly used in tuning Baroque performances, with a lower variant a semitone lower (tief-Kammerton) - all five pitches do exist in extant organs...

[@cnsedgwick]

What a solid and enjoyable performance.

[@mudog35]

such a wonderful piece.

[@burningbeing]

Not only does it take coordination and agility to do this, it takes strength. If I am correct, this is a mechanical tracker organ, which means that all those levers you see moving are actually opening the air to the pipes. Each note triggers several pipes at once. The more stops you have activated (basically, the louder you play) the harder it is to press down the keys. Correct me if I'm wrong, pipe-heads!

[@robertgift]

I play this from memory. Is the best way. Allows devoting concentration to details without distraction of reading. Helmut Walcha, blind, plays it best. My hero and goal. Here, too many trills are omitted. Too difficult? Practice and do them - so wonderful. Like that he starts trill on lower note. But do not like tie at end of trills.

[@Human_Taxidermist]

Holy mother of father's son, How in the world do you learn to do that? I was amazed at this man's skill and was humored by the modest way he just got up and walked away at the end.

[@advisorC101]

Such a fine instrument as well.

[@mudog35]

I LOVE THE PIECE AND GREAT JOB !

[@blumousey]

The hand/foot coordination on the organ is amazing, but I find not having to control dynamics with varying pressure on the keys makes things easier. Some of Bach's fugues have 5 voice couterpoint, and on the piano you have to bring out the subjects in one voice while playing the accompanying voice/voices quietly in the same hand by varying the weight of the notes using the wrist, both hands at the same time. His 4 voice fugue 7 (Eb major) from WTC book 2 is a prime example of this.

[@andrewashdown4042]

I love the da capo with a slight variation (n.b. I'm a musical dimwit but one has to express oneself somehow ...) and the runs on the bass pedal - all remarkable - puts it in my top six Bach 'free' (non-chorale) pieces

[@ccoraxfan]

There are two basic kinds of pipes: flue and reed. Flue pipes are made just like an ordinary whistle, with different dimensions for different notes and sound qualities. Some pipes are open on top, some are closed, some are partly closed. Some are metal, some are wood. Changing the size of the pipe mouth or the diameter of the pipe or the type of stopper, if used, or the material the pipe is made of (which affects the shape of the pipe) will change the sound quality.

[@baroquian1685]

If you look at the score, its fugal subjects enter in a wedge-like manner. It's mind blowing that he plays it from memory.

[@SuperBabel2]

Monsieur Henrique2k, je ne juge pas la tête des gens ; mais la qualité de leur musique, et celle-ci est exceptionnelle de qualité, au lieu de regarder, ECOUTER ! "on" est pas au cinéma, mais au concert... D.BABEL

[@mudog35]

this is the best of this version!

[@fnersch3367]

Great playing! A wonderful example of counterpoint.

[@v.dargain1678]

Uh-huh . Contrapuntal big time . This guy is amazing . Whew !

[@johnrobinson9465]

Splendid music, splendid organ, splendid performance.

[@mudog35]

great music for the record....very nice.

[@Biff947]

Love the menacing pace

[@AndrejJodko]

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue) is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number now is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions. The works are grouped thematically, not chronologically.

[@ccoraxfan]

As someone asked how the organ works, and the explanation offered missed some details which the uninitiated might need, I thought I'd say a little about this while I listen to this beautiful rendition.

[@piusfelix]

Bach was fairly spartan when it came to marking up his music with instructions to the performer. It is my contention that Bach left a lot up to the performer. AND given that we have many instruments from his time still alive and playable, I think we can get something passable in the very least. I think he'd be happy just to know that we are still playing his music 260 years after his death. (Thanks To Felix Mendelssohn!)

[@robertgift]

548 is best. What a wonderful subject/ wonderful counter subject. So rich, complex, rhythmic, compelling. But Pass&F is wonderful, too. Also I love the T&F in F major and Gigue.

[@Ayokalyb]

In response to the description, organs were originally used for choral works. Usually there is sheet music covering the majority of the mirror, but just enough mirror showing in the top right corner to see the reflection of the conductor. As you can imagine, when you're playing an organ it can be pretty loud.. considering the organ is all you can hear and feel. Visuals are the best way to do it. There's simply no other way to keep tempo. This is definitely a more traditional organ.