BACH'S MISCELLANEOUS KEYBOARD WORKS played by EDWARD ISAACS
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue
IN the Fantasia are seen signs of the origin, in primitive organ display, of many pieces of this prelude type, a good deal of it being of the nature of mere bravura scale passages, or of a series of chords, each broken up, arpeggio fashion. There is nothing contrapuntal (woven) about the piece ; it is mainly an exhibi tibn of tone-effects, and as such, very exciting. There are also some striking passages of a Recitative character.
The Fugue is one of the longest of all the Fugues Bach wrote for clavichord or harpsichord. Its well-thought-out and very logical structure is all the more effective after the uncontrolled impetuosity of the preceding Fantasia. It is in three ' voices.' The chromatic nature of the subject (its creeping by small degrees) naturally leads to much boldness of harmony.
The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue probably date from about 1720, when Bach was thirty-five, and had already composed the greater part of his organ music.