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PODCAST

The WTF Bach Podcast

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. Go to: wtfbach.substack.com for the full experience. wtfbach.substack.com

music music commentary

All Episodes

41:02

Anyone Else Getting Married?

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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....

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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.)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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?

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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...

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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...)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

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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25:46

Bach Store is BACK! (+ Bach at 15 yrs. old)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2024/03/06

You read correctly: The Bach Store is back. In Erfurt, Thuringia, the state from where the Bachs hail. I will play for five hours, March 14-28, 12.00-18.00 GMT +1 (7AM-1PM EST.) You can (hopefully) stream the whole run on my youtube. Subscribe HERE.Or go to: www.youtube.com/@wtfbachHere is the latest video I mentioned in the podcast.Bach Store Merchandise is available on request. Send an email to bach (at) wtfbach (dot com)—Meanwhile, the music in today’s episode comes from the “Neumeister

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51:10

Introducing: The Flute!

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2024/02/24

This week I’ll be performing some flute chamber music in Santa Barbara, California. I realize I’ve never specifically mentioned Bach’s wonderful flute repertoire on this podcast. We tackle here what I find is the most complex composition in the repertoire: the first movement of the b minor sonata, BWV 1030.Pieces heard:BWV 1030.1 Source P. 1008, early version, harpsichord part.BWV 1030.2 The later version, arranged as a flute sonata.Articles:Contentious writing on flute vs. recorderYour Support Is

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42:40

Two More Cantatas (1724, Part 3)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2024/02/14

This is the final episode introducing Bach’s cantata cycle of 1724. In the first four cantatas of the cycle, we heard how Bach used Lutheran hymnal melodies as cantus firmi in different voice parts in each opening movement (sopranos, followed by altos, followed by tenors, followed by basses.)Here, the next two cantatas see less predictable treatments of the old melodies. Bach evidently valued these two cantatas, as later in life he arranged single movements from both BWV 10 and BWV 93 into his

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45:37

2024. An Important Bach Year (Part Two)

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2024/01/20

Last episode we introduced Bach’s second cantata cycle from 1724. We saw in the first cantatas of the cycle, Bach used a church melody as the cantus firmus first in the sopranos, then the altos. This episode we will explore the next two cantatas where Bach sets the cantus firmus in the tenors in BWV 7, and the basses in BWV 135. About the melody you may know as “O Sacred Head Surrounded” Pieces heard:BWV 7, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Full Performance)BWV 135, Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder

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3:19

2 minutes: P.D.Q. R.I.P.

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2024/01/18

Peter Schickele was one of my idols. He died on Tuesday, January 16. His creation, P.D.Q. Bach, helped bring much needed self-effacing humor to the world of classical music. Links below to help you get into his (and Victor Borge’s— another giant of classical music parody—) life and work:Peter Schickele’s Obituary, NY TimesBeethoven’s 5th announced as a baseball game (a classic!)The Short-Tempered ClavierReport from Hoople (full album- the Beethoven sketch is included)The Definitive Autobiography of

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39:50

Why Is 2024 An Important Bach Year?

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2024/01/06

In this episode we delve into Bach’s second cantata cycle begun in 1724. The first two cantatas are briefly covered, (with two further cantatas to follow next episode) as well as the connection between the Lutheran church melodies and the significance of the year Bach began this ambitious project.Pieces heard:BWV 20, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (Click here to see the live video)BWV 2, Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh dareinBWV 684, Chirst unser Herr zum Jordan KammSupport

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21:46

My Mini Concert for You

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2023/12/24

I rarely just play on this podcast, but that’s how I’d like to package this little present for my listeners. Rather than spending days researching and writing, today I will play four fugues and introduce them only briefly. It’s some twenty minutes of music I hope you can enjoy during your holidays. The quote I read to introduce this short concert is by Mortimer J. Adler.Bach wrote this music before 1717 (at the latest.) These are fugues whose themes originated in the work of other composers. Bach

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40:58

The First Double Fugue in History

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2023/12/15

In today’s episode we have a look at one of Bach’s Arnstadt masterpieces, the fugue in c minor BWV 574 on a theme by Giovanni Maria Bononcini (The composers Giovanni Bononcini and Antonio Maria Bononcini were his sons.) According to the Neue Bach Ausgabe, this fugue is the first double fugue in history.Here is a picture of the title page in his brother’s hand with the erroneous attribution to Legrenzi:You can download the music to the fugue here. (The MIDI version I created at the end of the episode

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20:10

I Play Bach's Table of Ornaments

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2023/12/03

Firstly, here is the image of what’s in question:If you’ve ever wondered what all the ‘squiggles’ are about over certain notes in sheet music, this episode will you give you a good idea. Here is the ‘Applicatio,’ the little piece which would have shown Bach’s son (and other future students) how to apply these ornaments- notice the fingering and the ‘J.N.J.’:Just a quick episode today! Stay tuned for more writings and longer episodes soon.Support

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