BACH'S MISCELLANEOUS KEYBOARD
WORKS played by EDWARD ISAACS
Fantasia in C Minor
Prelude and Fugue in A Minor
THE Fantasia is influenced by the bold harpsichord stylo of Bach's contemporary, Domenico Scarlatti , who used a good deal of hand-crossing to obtain his effects. Bach began a Fugue to follow this Fantasia, but for some reason left no completed copy of it.
The Prelude consists of a mere ten bars of wide chords, intended to be arpeggioed as the performer's taste may suggest. Certain others of Bach's Preludes are mare successions of harmonies (the first * Prelude of the ' 48 ' is a beautiful example), but usually ho has himself written out in full the passages which he wishes to bo developed from them.
This practice did not seem strange in a day when composers left their accompaniments in a ' skeleton ' state, printing only the bass, with figures above it to indicate what notes were to be added to make up the harmony.
The Fugue is the longest Bach ever wrote for clavichord or harpsichord. The subject is itself a long one, being a rapid-flowing stream of over sixty running notes. The current of tone continues unchecked from beginning to end of the piece. Near tho end is an exciting Cadenza, derived from the subject; it begins low down and gradually overflows the keyboard.