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PODCAST

WTF Bach

Hear the music of J.S. Bach with new understanding! For music lovers, to professional musicians, Let Evan Shinners, (aka W.T.F. Bach) guide your mind through a contrapuntal journey. Subscribe at wtfbach.substack.com for the full experience. wtfbach.substack.com

music music commentary

All Episodes

18:44

MiniSeries! 4: Feet & LH, a 7th Apart

WTF Bach ·

2024/12/27

Let’s delve into a third variation from Bach’s 1747 masterpiece, “Some canonic variations on the Christmas song, ‘From Heaven Above’ for the organ with two keyboards and pedal, by J.S. Bach.”Two versions of this piece exist: the ‘fair copy’ and the ‘publication’ (Stichfassung), which present the variations in a different order. In this episode, we follow the publication, where the canon at the 7th appears as the third variation.The previous two variations featured canons between right and left

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17:21

Is Pachelbel's Canon Really a Canon?

WTF Bach ·

2024/12/20

I never knew the authentic version of the world’s most famous canon, having only known arrangements which conceal the fact that the music is indeed a canon in three voices. Here is what the ‘real’ canon looks like:It continues for over 50 bars as a three voice canon at the unison. In my brief survey of this piece, I found one theory that suggests the 9-year-old J.S. Bach was in attendance at the first performance in history. While the canonic treatment is clever and not worthy of our loathing— we

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16:27

MiniSeries! 3: A Canon At The Fifth

WTF Bach ·

2024/12/17

Continuing our mini-series exploring Bach’s canonic variations on the Christmas song, ‘Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her’ BWV 769, we listen to the second canon: a canon at the perfect fifth. Here is what the initial shape looks like in the right hand: So the same shape must be imitated down the perfect fifth. It appears like this in the left hand:I briefly mention the difference between ‘tonal’ and ‘real’ answers. Although the majority of the imitating line appears a perfect fifth below the leader,

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18:55

MiniSeries! 2: Divine Row Row Row Your Boat

WTF Bach ·

2024/12/07

The first variation in these late variations for organ, is a canon at the octave. The two hands, each on a separate keyboard, play the same shape, one octave apart, while the feet provide the chorale melody. It looks like this:Those are the first three measures of 18 measures. That’s right: the shape is imitated note for note for 18 bars! If you’re having trouble seeing that the two upper lines are in fact the same melody, one octave apart, try this image:We Rely On Listener Support! How to Donate

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21:04

MiniSeries! 1: Bach's Christmas Puzzles

WTF Bach ·

2024/11/28

In this first of several related episodes, we will learn about Bach’s late contrapuntal masterpiece, the Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her, BWV 769. The variations— although certainly not as familiar— should be considered alongside Bach’s other late achievements, the Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue, and A Musical Offering. They employ many similar ideas and highlight the composers uncanny ability to ‘squeeze water from a stone,’ making elaborate pieces with minimal

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29:57

Bach Pulls Out His Dagger.

WTF Bach ·

2024/11/18

Since I was a child I’ve known the story of Bach pulling out a blade. What really happened? In this short episode, I read the contemporary reports from the Arnstadt Consistory Court, where this famous fisticuffs was first recorded. About halfway through the episode (14 minutes), I’ve given you some “chill” chorales, played over a drone. One of my listeners mentioned they wanted some Bach for doing yoga/meditation, so this is what I came up with. If you like the way it sounds, I’ll put a full

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54:12

The Urtext Illusion: Textual Variance in Bach's "Aria...

WTF Bach ·

2024/10/31

Last week I posted this piece on YouTube:The most intriguing part of studying this piece was the overwhelming amount of differences between the three earliest sources of this work. Here is a list of the sources I reference in the episode , the copyists, and when they were made:The ‘Andreas Bach Book’ (D-LE III.8.4) J. Christoph Bach; copyist, between 1705-1714P 801 J. Tobias Krebs; copyist, between 1710-1717P 804 J. Peter Kellner; copyist, before 1725In the episode I simply refer to these as Andreas

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33:55

Passion Music for His Son: The F Minor Sinfonia, BWV 795

WTF Bach ·

2024/10/09

Yes, that recording at the end is none other than Jascha Heifetz with Primrose and Piatigorksy, who apparently recorded three of the sinfonias. The wonderful pianist with that golden sound playing before the string trio arrangement is (I think!) Marcelle Meyer recorded sometime around 1948. WTF Bach needs your support! Consider becoming a subscriber.Today’s episode focuses on the ‘black pearl’ of the inventions and sinfonias. The f minor sinfonia is highly complex piece of passion music embedded

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46:34

Fantasy & Fugue in C minor BWV 537

WTF Bach ·

2024/09/25

Becoming familiar with Bach’s music is a never-ending process. First, there is the initial reading, which alone can occupy many happy years. What’s remarkable is that with each further reading, you’re astonished by the details you missed before—quite honestly amazed. You ask yourself: Where—or even who—was I during those earlier readings? You begin to measure your growth as a musician against the depth with which you can now understand the pieces.One fugue, which I initially read with little

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41:02

Anyone Else Getting Married?

WTF Bach ·

2024/09/08

In this episode, we’ll explore Bach’s constant involvement with weddings. Weddings and funerals occupied a weekly place in Bach’s life in Leipzig and we’ll shed light on the various ways in which he was involved musically. [I forgot to credit the last recording in this episode to Rudolph Lutz and the J.S. Bach foundation.]Here are (some of) the beautiful parts which make up the chorales, BWVs 250-252. They are beautiful examples of Bach’s handwriting ca. 1730. Note that all three chorales are on the

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22:01

The 3rd Keyboard Partita (A Crucial Revision)

WTF Bach ·

2024/08/12

A brief(er) episode for you today: Bach’s first published opus was his six partitas for keyboard. In some of the sources within Bach’s circle, copies retained as a ‘Handexemplar’ include revisions by a scribe we can almost say with certainty is Bach himself. The most consequential of these revisions appears at the end of the third partita, where the second half of the Gigue is re-written with what one might call ‘updated’ or ‘refined’ counterpoint. Here we see the main source (G 25) in question:Hard

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53:07

Performer's Commentary, Vol. 3

WTF Bach ·

2024/08/04

The final performer’s commentary episode for you. This is live commentating (the program notes of the future) on the last of my three simultaneous releases. This album is a bunch of preludes and fugues— some maybe you know, some maybe you don’t.You can stream and individually purchase any track including the performer’s commentary from the third volume below. [More streaming links (including youtube playlists) at the bottom:]How To Support This

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36:19

No One Ever Erected a Statue to a Critic (Bach vs....

WTF Bach ·

2024/07/26

Johann Adolph Scheibe went down in history for attacking Bach’s “turgid and confused” style. “…from the natural to the artificial, and from the lofty to the obscure ... one wonders at the painful labor of it all, that nevertheless comes to nothing, since it is at variance with reason.”Let’s examine the controversy from the beginning. How To Support This Podcast:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachhttps://cash.app/$wtfbachor become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.comThe first

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32:59

Mi Fa, et Fa Mi est tota musica (BWV 1078)

WTF Bach ·

2024/07/07

On March 1, 1749, Bach penned the following into a Stammbuch:Today’s episode covers this canon in depth. What does it mean? How does it sound?Here is a link to the article by scholar, Anatoly Milka.The book, Bach and the meaning of Counterpoint, by David Yearsley is available here.How To Support This Podcast:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachhttps://cash.app/$wtfbachor become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.comThe first three albums of the 'Complete Works for Solo Keyboard'

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37:46

Performer's Commentary, Vol. 2

WTF Bach ·

2024/06/26

Another performer’s commentary episode for you. If you’ve missed out on the second of my three simultaneous releases, you’ll have a chance to listen to it here, with my live commentary. You can stream and individually purchase any track including the performer’s commentary from the second volume here. —More streaming links (including youtube playlists) at the bottom:How To Support This Podcast:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachhttps://cash.app/$wtfbachor become a paid subscriber

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30:02

Bach's Puzzle Canons (Yes, Please.)

WTF Bach ·

2024/06/09

Thanks for your feedback on the last few episodes. I’ve gathered my listeners enjoy piecing together musical cells in their minds, so today’s episode will bring you more of that.The eight surviving canons, BWVs 1072-1078 (+BWV deest) were written on small pieces of paper or penned into registry books. Their compact content, usually only a few notes, is then ‘solved:’ copied and transformed to make a perpetual piece of music in several voices.You will hear the solutions in the episode. Here is how

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47:07

Performer's Commentary, Vol. 1

WTF Bach ·

2024/05/26

If you miss those DVDs with the optional director’s commentary, you’re going to enjoy this episode.Each album in my ‘J.S. Bach Complete Solo Keyboard Works’ will be accompanied by this type of work, my commentating as the music plays. You can stream (and individually purchase) any track including the performer’s commentary from the first album here:How To Support This Podcast:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachhttps://cash.app/$wtfbachor become a paid subscriber at

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48:53

What Did Bach's Business Card Sound Like?

WTF Bach ·

2024/05/12

You know that portrait of Bach holding a little scrap of music? Ever wonder what the piece was? What it sounded like? That piece of paper is a six-voice, triple canon: number thirteen in the fourteen additional canons found on the back of Bach’s personal copy of the Goldberg Variations. (Analysis of that specific canon around 32 min.)We’ve covered nine of these puzzling pieces in three previous episodes, but now it’s time to call it a wrap on all fourteen. These additional canons were discovered

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30:56

Three Albums on Presale Today! (Ever Dance With a...

WTF Bach ·

2024/04/24

ALBUMS ON PRESALE TODAY! BUY THE ALBUMS HERE!Volume One:Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/pl/album/j-s-bach-complete-keyboard-works-vol-1-five-early-suites/1742017750Amazon Music: https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0D2384W2F?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_RKDX0CTSrSQOjYLoHcLjwnaalVolume Two:Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/jp/album/j-s-bach-complete-keyboard-works-vol-2-original-compositions/1742025499Amazon Music:

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32:01

Some NEWS (and a Cantata...)

WTF Bach ·

2024/04/10

Thanks for all your support during The Bach Store! If you’re in NYC on Friday, come to Le Poisson Rouge at 158 Bleecker Street at 7pm.Be sure to mark your calendars: April 24th, 2024, my new albums will be on PRE-sale. It marks the beginning of my most ambitious project to date: a very thorough, if possible, ‘complete’ set of the keyboard works of Bach. I will certainly send another reminder as the date approaches.And now for a brief journey into Bach around this date in 1724: today’s episode covers

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