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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

40:43

Ep. 113: New Bach Works (!) Heard TODAY

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/11/17

Just a few moments ago, two newly christened works were connected to Bach’s name for the time after 320 years. Exciting news, have a listen! Many thanks to the Bach Archive in Leipzig for the production. (Sorry for any glitches in the production, episode made in haste!)Know someone who’d enjoy hearing about this joyous discovery?A link to the source of d minor Chaconne, BWV 1178A link to the source of the g minor Chaconne, BWV 1179The live stream link (English overdub.)We survive solely on

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5:50

(5 min. Rant) Self-Inflationary Language!

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/11/13

—More matter with less art. (Hamlet, II.ii)Got friends who speak English? Spread W.T.F.P.S. The music at the end is a taste of a forthcoming W.T.F. Bach album: arrangements of the Orgelbüchlein. Album title suggestions welcome!We survive solely on donations. Thank you for your help!We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriberat wtfbach.substack.comFree subscriptions are also great for our numbers.You can also make a one-time donation

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72:22

Ep. 112: E-flat or D-sharp minor?

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/11/08

“Whoever has once felt this wonderful tranquility has comprehended the mysterious spirit that has here expressed all it knew and felt of life in the secret language of tone, and will render Bach the thanks we render only to the great souls to whom it is given to reconcile men with life and bring them peace.” -Schweitzer, Vol. 1W.T.F. Bach wants YOU to subscribeA prelude in E-flat minor, with a fugue in its enharmonic other. The image attached to this episode is from the Czerny edition, who felt the

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21:22

Ep. 111: The Blind Organist's Improvisations and...

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/10/30

A most precious 15 minutes of audio. In improvised miniatures with different combinations of stops, Helmut Walcha gives invaluable insights into the world of improvising and the various colors on the organ. An assistant names the stops he will use before he plays— you can see the list of stops in the links. I recommend the first link in particular for its details on the restorations and the photos of cherubs, et cetera, but you’ve also got to admire an organ that has its own Wikipedia page. The

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49:08

Ep. 110: Bach Put A Fugue Inside A Prelude?

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/10/22

Continuing our study of The Well-Tempered Clavier, (hear the first episode in this series via this link) Bach begins the second quarter of the collection with a dramatic genre: a fugal prelude. Not only that, the fugue appears to be a double fugue!The prelude begins more contrapuntally than the preludes we have met thus far:After a few bars of this, Bach dashes our hope that the prelude will continue exclusively with this motif. A flourish of virtuosity vanishes into what seems to be a fugue— of

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27:43

Ep. 109: 'The Swimmer' by John Cheever

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/10/14

“Cheever was a reasonably tormented man.” -Jerry LowenthalEnjoy this short story— one of the great American short stories— by John Cheever.Thanks!-EvanHelp this resource survive for future Bach enthusiasts! 100% fueled by your support.We exist because of your Donations:We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.comYou can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachSupporting this scholarly resource ensures its

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45:07

Ep. 108: Bach's D Minor Prelude and Fugue, Book One

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/10/08

How boring would this be?Admittedly, I still find that beautiful, but Bach is one note ahead of me:We have a prelude propelled by its instability. This might be something to pay attention to in The Well-Tempered Clavier —if not all his writing in the early 1720s— ordinary melodic shapes that become more compelling when slightly offset.We want YOU! to support WTF BachWe are 25% of the way through this triumph of tonality. Now, for the first time in the collection, the fugue makes explicit use of

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40:50

Ep. 107: D Major Fugue, To Dot... or Not?

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/09/30

While the ‘double-dot’ may well have shown up during Bach’s lifetime, I’m not aware of him ever using it. To assume that his music never makes use of such rhythm would obviously be incorrect. Instead, we need to seek out where it might and might not be applied. Continuing our tour through The Well-Tempered Clavier, in the D Major Fugue now, BWV 850, we see a possible implication of double-dots in the subject:Playing the dotted 8ths as double-dotted 8ths, hence changing the following 16th notes into

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7:22

(6 Min. Rant) Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/09/24

(Rated PG)Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouthinstamus tamen inmemores caecique furore,et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce.Aeneid, II.244-245(Yet blindly we persist, forgetful in our fury, and we place the monster, unhappy, upon our sacred citadel.)I like to think about the origins of phrases we use in English. Imagine you’re a foreigner and someone says, “go on, spill the beans…”Here are a few idioms we use without thinking about them:Bite the bullet. Here’s an actual example from the

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59:58

Ep. 106: What is Bach's 'Musical Offering?'

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/09/18

J.S. Bach: Complete Keyboard Works, Vol. 5- Musical Offering, Suite 823 is now available everywhere you listen to music— platform specific links below— have a listen!A Musical Offering (Ein Musikalisches Opfer) BWV 1079, is one of Bach’s late mono-thematic masterpieces. When Bach visited his son and King Frederick the Great in 1747, he was challenged to improvise upon the following, extemporaneously:Bach did so to the amazement of all. Two months later, already engraved on copper plates, The Musical

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43:25

Ep. 105: Isak Dinesen, 'The Immortal Story'

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/09/05

Enjoy this powerful story (1953) by Karen Blixen.-EvanWe Survive on your Donations! Thank you!We encourage our listeners to become a paid subscriber at wtfbach.substack.comYou can also make a one-time donation here:https://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachSupporting this show ensures its longevity!—Help WTF Bach reach more listeners— Get full access to WTF Bach at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe

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62:11

Ep. 104: Bach (Almost) Spells His Name in a 5-Voice...

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/08/28

“Bach the master surgeon leaves no scar.”Listen on wtfbach.substack.com for the best experience. Subscriptions are free!There are only two five-voice fugues in The Well-Tempered Clavier, and only two triple fugues. This fugue is both— a five voice triple fugue. Should I be tempted to add some (perhaps too convenient) theological rhetoric to this fugue, an analysis might read like this:Three subjects in one fugue? Why yes, the trinity in music! The themes enter, Son, Holy Spirit, and God the Father

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23:46

Ep. 103: The 'Covid Etude' Moral + Tureck’s...

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/08/19

“It seems that classical musicians — and as I now understand, jazz musicians at conservatory— are trained to forget the purpose of the music right at the point they start interpreting it.”In this short episode (11 minutes of talking + 10 minutes of music) I read an entry from my practice diary which may be interesting enough to ponder… As it was passed around during covid, the “Coronavirus Etude” looked something like this:Hopefully you’ll enjoy the lesson I got out of the few ‘performances’ made of

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54:32

Ep. 102: Bach's Most Famous Prelude (& Fugue...) BWV 846

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/08/05

In the beginning was the arpeggio, and the arpeggio was in C major, and the arpeggio was C major…To which ill-tempered friend will you send this?We are lucky Bach bothered writing out his arpeggio preludes. Here, for example, is what would later become the C-sharp Major prelude, from Book 2:Who, without the aid of Bach’s revisions, would be so bold to turn that into:So too, in the early versions of the opening of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach loses little time writing out the figures. He even

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52:41

Ep. 101: The Well-Tempered Clavier! Analysis,...

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/07/25

It’s high time we delve into what Schumann called a musician’s ‘daily bread.’ The Well-Tempered Clavier is one of the collections closest to the composer’s heart—and to the hearts of countless other musicians throughout history.The episode on temperament I mentioned.I think of the two books of this collection as having only outward similarities. The music in both parts are as separate as The Art of Fugue and the Inventions— even more so. Book One, incidentally the only part to be called “The

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3:55

(4 Min. Rant) Literally Can't Thank You Enough in...

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/07/11

PG-13 Warning. This isn’t the norm—just testing the cult of Shinners. Future episodes stay true to our Bach tradition. Enjoyed this? Do you want some more of my originals mixed in with your weekly Bach? Literally Can't Thank You Enough in AdvanceI try to “bear the burden of bitterness which experience forces on us with as much uncomplaining dignity as strength will allow” as restaurants around me tell me to eat beautiful, as any person who pockets their phone to listen is crowned empathetic, as

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64:00

100th Episode! Special Guest: Ton Koopman

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/06/27

A few months back I had the pleasure of interviewing Ton Koopman. If you’re at home in the Baroque, you’re no stranger to his work. Please enjoy this interview, marking the 100th episode of The WTF Bach Podcast! Thanks for your support, thanks to all those who make this work possible. Here’s looking forward to 100 more!Topics Covered (Chronologically)Works of doubtful authenticity (Violin Sonata, BWV 1025)Continuo playing (Figured bass, Improvisation, Ornamentation)Legato in the BaroqueWanda

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47:22

Ep. 99: NEW ALBUM - Partitas 1-3

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/06/13

Listen to the new album here:https://modernclassicalx.lnk.to/BachCompleteKeyboardWorksVol4PartitasPtOneToday I’ve released Volume 4 in my “Complete Keyboard Works” of JSB. This album contains three pieces by the master: Partita no. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825Partita no. 2 in c minor, BWV 826Partita no. 3 in a minor, BWV 827Bach’s Opus One—the six Partitas of Clavier-Übung I—were first issued individually from 1726, with the complete set published in 1731. Bach pays homage to his Leipzig predecessor,

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50:14

Borges, Bach, Barthelme.

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/05/30

Would you object to the comparison of Messiaen and Borges? I see both 20th century giants deeply steeped in the masters of the past, throughly conversant in the antique, and yet they bring something uniquely modern— magical. Borges’ stories have the ability to stun, to make one wonder, or in the case of the story I read today, elicit tears.After Shakespeare’s Memory, (1983) which I believe is his last published story, I offer my somewhat chaotic rendition of the Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel

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66:55

Bach as A Minor in a minor.

The WTF Bach Podcast ·

2025/05/21

Yep. I based an entire episode on the pun. We study two works not usually heard in the organ repertoire, the Prelude (Fantasy) BWV 569 and the Prelude with Fugue BWV 551, both in a minor. These are not the best known pieces in the repertoire, but they command our attention—especially when you consider that one of them was written when Bach was just 14 years old.BWV 569, composed around 1708 when Bach was 23, is a single-rhythm experiment in modulation—akin to his Fantasy, BWV 922. On the page, it

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116 results

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