LDV201

16 BACH_4 TOCCATAS & FUGUES TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR “DORIAN” BWV 538 The autograph manuscript of this work has been lost, but it is the only one for which we possess an ancient copy bearing the indications of keyboard changes: Oberwerk (main keyboard, or full organ) and Positiv (small keyboard, or positive organ). These keyboard changes are intended to contrast groups of chords with other ones or imitative responses of motifs, just as, in the concerto, the concertino contrasts with the ripieno. This precious indication is one of the fundamental sources of information for the execution of Bach’s works. The toccata has been described as the model of toccatas of the symphonic school: no more lightning flashes, bizarreries or violent contrasts, but a piece written in one powerful stream, over an even and continuous rhythmic movement. The impressive fugue is both amazing and admirable in its economy of means, its rigorous structure and in its quite extraordinary power of concentration. Immediately, its subject, solemn and meditative, invites us to contemplate some mystery which is then cryptically revealed, through the numerous symbolical figures that were so dear to the musician: its triangular design, the seven-bar subject - 7, the number symbolising the whole, the sum of the divine 3 and the human 4 - covering the seven notes of the scale!