Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner I can't stop playing Toccatta in D Minor!

Has anyone else had this happen? I can't stop playing the Toccata in D Minor by Bach! (First Movement) I would like to know other's impressions about this piece. I think it's magnificent.

I could have done without that one.

Eeeeeewwww. I don't see the humor or relevance there. In fact, that's an image that makes me recoil.

I think if the OP thought that a visual aid needed to be supplied, he or she would have been more comfortable with one of his or her own choosing.

Why don't you consider removing it, PianistOne111? It adds nothing, and in fact is an unwelcome distraction.

Steven

Revolting. Try this one instead:

Meanwhile, does anyone have anything to say about the Toccata?

That piece actually sounds better on the organ itself. Katsaris' transcription is actually good too for the piano. But, I could do better with other of Bach's music, especially the Busoni arrangements.

I agree. I love playing it on my digital piano with the pipe organ feature. I will be performing this piece with a student at our next recital. Any suggestions for complementary sounds? Perhaps just double the organs? We will both be playing the piece together. (I will have two digital pianos and two grand pianos available)

Managed to recover a harpsichord version of the Toccata in D minor from IMSLP ... and have been bashing away on the familiar theme.

What staggers me is the excruciatingly accurate judgement of note durations and rests which Bach conjures in the opening statement with parallel hands:

.The familiar lower mordent opener on an 8th note (one flag),
.three flag rest
.four flag cascade to the
.three flag C# and linking to the
.two flag D keynote
.two flag rest
.one flag rest

And that was just the first half of the opening measure.

Perhaps what we all like about this famous toccata is the chance to get our hands to work in parallel motion ... thanks for the lead.

toccata in D minor

Whoa. Well, someone removed it.

Actually I thought you were talking about BWV913.

Which brings up two points...

1. We cannot assume that Bach is the one conjuring anything, as the authorship of the piece is in question.

2. The famous opening phrase is indeed very carefully notated; however, practically everyone plays it incorrectly!

Most people play the descending scale as a formless 'clump', which accentuates the lowest note - the equivalent of placing the emphasis on the wrong syllable. If one observes the notation, there should be emphasis on the rest, the note "E", and the final "D". It sounds so very different, as to be a revelation!

One of my organ teachers (a professor from Germany) was a real stickler about it.

What was the picture that was removed?

An animated GIF image of Adolf Hitler bobbing his head.

Absolutely disgusting.

Whoever removed it did a good deed, IMNSHO.

The highly trained professional musician whippenboy regales with news that the famous Toccata in D minor might not have been written by the great Johann Sebastian Bach ... and adds
"practically everyone plays it incorrectly!"

What negative tripe ... I’ve gone off the pro.

Prozac? That might not be wise.

Steven

Well, please continue to believe whatever you like.

I was just hoping to shed some light on the matter, especially since you went into such "excruciatingly accurate" detail about the opening phrase.

Hmmm... a fresh viewpoint on an otherwise tired topic - what a scary concept!

Had to bring you out into the open whippenboy,

Your highly researched knowledge doesn't always
go down with the peasants ... it's a bit like telling a 6-year old (with sights on a prospective red bicycle for Christmas) ... that there's NO FATHER XMAS ... there is a time for everything.

If in doubt, give JSB the nod with the possible writing of the well-loved Toccata in D minor.

If a man cannot stop doing something, I want to know why. Especially if it is something good which keeps you on the keys night and day. So pray elaborate. Why don't you work on the Fugue as well? Of course, it's magnificent but what is it that enthralls you in particular?

You've postured as a peasant before, btb, as when you interrupted your advocacy of breaking the laws of copyright to inform me that "you New Yorkers tend to ride a pretty high horse ... forgive us peasants for just getting by."

I wouldn't expect a retired architect to experience poverty either of the pocketbook or of the mind, yet you regularly express scorn for those you apparently imagine may know more, have more—or even sight-read better!—than you.

Maybe you're not even serious, and just being seriously silly instead; after all, Galileo's research didn't "go down" with the Church, either! You couldn't really be suggesting that discussion conform to the fairy-tale sensitivities of your hypothetical six-year-old.

Steven

As whippen boy well knows, there has been a sizable amount of intellect and ink devoted to determining who actually wrote the T&F in D minor. So far no television specials such as those generated by the 'Shakespeare Problem', but music periodicals are sporadically strewn with discussion of the T&F.

I've read detailed essays that go through the work note by note, concluding at every juncture 'Bach would never have written it that way', etc... On the other hand, I've read a recently published bio of Bach (translated from the German) which never questioned the authenticity of the T&F.

What's a poor sod to believe? No one has come up with concrete proof either way. One author confidently assigned it to Karl Krebs. If so, well then he was the most underrated composer of his day.

In the end, who really cares? The T&F was the first Bach organ work I fell in love with -and that subsequently led me to the unquestioned great masterpieces. And in all of Bach's mature organ works, there's not a dud to be found.

FWIW, I'm inclined to believe the T&F was in fact composed by Bach. Do understand that the Bach who I believe wrote this work was perhaps 18 years old. That's about the same time he was chastised for bringing Maria Barbara up to the organ loft (poor kid couldn't get away with anything). The T&F in d minor is not great music, but has the hallmarks of other Bach works of the time (there's an In Dulci Jubilo from the Orgelbuchlein I believe has similarities in its passagework). If other writers determine that Bach would never write something in a particular way it's quite possible he learned from the experience and its obvious he improved with age.

Are there greater works from later in Bach's life? Absolutely! In fact the T&F is weak by comparison to almost all of Bach's later work.