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00:00 Prelude
09:34 Fugue

Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (St Anne) BWV 552

4th June 2023 – Trinity Sunday

Sample Set - Armley, Saint Bartholomew’s Church, UK, Edmund Schulze, 1879 (Lavender Audio)

Played on my ‘Trent Series’ console, made by Nottingham Midi Organs (www.nottinghammidiorgans.co.uk)

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“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” – Johann Sebastian Bach

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When Bach collated his definitive ‘Clavier-Übung III’ (started in 1735 and published in 1739), he decided that rather than putting his magnificent Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major in the middle (as first planned), he would separate the two parts to form the opening of the volume and ensure a superlative conclusion. In a volume that was essentially devoted to the Trinity, there could have been no clearer statement than this piece, with all its references to the number three. Bach, and musicians well into the nineteenth century, would have found it most odd to ever play the Prelude and Fugue consecutively in a concert. Indeed, it is not known for certain whether the Prelude and Fugue were actually composed at the same time, even though the similarities are almost too marked to ignore.
Everything in this piece of music comes in threes, guiding the astute to see the Prelude and Fugue as a deliberate representation of the three figures of the Trinity. In the Prelude, first of all the Father appears with majestic chords and imposing motifs. Then comes the Son in an almost ‘galant’ style, full of variation. And finally, after a ‘Father recapitulation’, the Holy Spirit descends to fast notes in a three-part double fugue, like fiery tongues. Bach borrows from the French, Italian and German composition styles respectively, though in his own unique way, he makes this work truly astonishing.
The Fugue goes on to glorify these diverse styles. Although the form is in three sections, each with its own theme, the music does not come from the early Italian Baroque. Its development is contemporary to Bach and remarkably tightly organised. Bach sweeps the listener along by building up from a stately ‘stile antico’ in quadruple time through a flowing, pedal-free middle section in 6/4, to nothing short of a dance-like jig in 12/8. The fugue themes, which are each heard a multiple of three times, are also related to one another with the first theme, in particular, singing out regularly above the tumult, even after its turn. In the final section, Bach deftly combines the first and third themes into a new element, before the piece reaches its jubilant climax. (The Fugue has become known in English-speaking countries as the ‘St. Anne’ because of the first subject's resemblance to a hymn tune of the same name by William Croft - a tune that was not likely known to Bach.)

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“Beloved Bach” was commissioned from me in 2022 as a Golden Wedding Anniversary present from a man to his wife: I was asked to record one piece of Bach organ music for her every week for a year – and that each recording should be ‘delivered’ every Sunday. The lady who is the beneficiary of this quite extraordinary gift is a very knowledgeable devotee of the great Baroque Master and always referred to her favourite composer as her true 'Beloved'.

I know that every organist is a Bach expert (or at least commonly has firm opinions on how the music should be played and interpreted) however these recordings are not offered in any way to proclaim myself as some kind of Bach specialist – rather just as someone who shares with the recipient of this extraordinary gift a love of this astonishing music. As these videos are being released throughout the year, one on each Sunday of the liturgical calendar, some pieces are particular or relevant to that specific release day while others are not chosen with this in mind. Many of the pieces that are in this collection were chosen with a certain amount of knowledge of the person to whom this gift is dedicated, in as much as many of her favourites (some of which are lesser-known pieces) are included. All the recordings are ‘live’ in as much as my limited knowledge of videography hasn’t expanded yet to ‘splicing’, however where there are two movement pieces, generally there were two separate takes. I hope you enjoy these recordings – please subscribe to be notified when each new recording is released.

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