​by Rebecca Cochran
 
The first time I recall hearing a work by J.S. Bach was in high school. (I’m a flutist.) We had a guest conductor that day and he brought in a piece for our wind ensemble to sight-read. It was an arrangement of Bach’s Fugue in E-flat, the St. Anne’s Fugue.

​This is how I begin my classical story.

Hear Part I of my interview on American Public Media as to why Bach is my favorite composer.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
This morning, my first listening experience was an arrangement for string quartet of the Fugue No. 16 (BWV 885) from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2. The recording was by the famed Emerson String Quartet.
 
It made my Monday! Listen here.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Fugue in E flat major (BWV 552) that ends the Clavier-Übung III, has been nick-named the “St. Anne” fugue, as the theme resembles the St. Anne hymn, O God, Our Help in Ages Past.
 
This is a triple fugue with each of the three sections having its own special character. In the third section, Bach writes a five-part double fugue for full organ. It is considered by many to be the most complex of all fugues ever written.
 
The twentieth-century theologian, organist, philosopher and physician, Albert Schweitzer said of this work, “The triple fugue ... is a symbol of the Trinity. The same theme recurs in three connected fugues, but each time with another personality. The first fugue is calm and majestic, with an absolutely uniform movement throughout; in the second the theme seems to be disguised, and is only occasionally recognisable in its true shape, as if to suggest the divine assumption of an earthly form; in the third, it is transformed into rushing semiquavers as if the Pentacostal wind were coming roaring from heaven.”

Enjoy this archival recording of the "St. Anne" fugue featuring organist, Helmut Walcha.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 is nicknamed the "Little" Fugue to differentiate it from his later work, the “Great" Fantasia and Fugue in G minor. Both works are originally for organ.
 
The ever-popular Little Fugue has been arranged for a variety of instrumental combinations, including Leopold Stokowski’s wonderful version for orchestra. One of my favorite “classic” arrangements of the Little Fugue is this one by the Swingle Singers. Enjoy!