Toccata and Fugue in D minor
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 is a work for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was written about 1708. It is often identified with melodramatic silent movies and scary movies, and was made famous when Walt Disney included the music in his animated movie Fantasia. Today, though, the original manuscript is lost and the work is known through copies made by Bach's students.
In Popular Culture
Toccata has been referenced many times throughout popular culture. It is often used to represent fright, mystery, or the macabre, possibly due being written in a minor key.
Toccata And Fugue In D Minor Media
Beginning of BWV 565 in Johannes Ringk's manuscript, which is, as far as known, the only extant 18th-century copy of the work
Beginning, Ringk's "Dorian" notation – layout like Ringk's manuscript apart from position of fermatas and the clef for the upper stave
"D Dorian" mode notation used by Ringk for BWV 565
Beginning, D minor notation, with the pedal part on a separate stave (also, arpeggio in second half of second measure converted to modern notation)
D minor: usual notation with a Template:Flat at the key
Program of Mendelssohn's 1840 organ concert: BWV 565 is listed as last piece by Bach, before the "Freie Phantasie" which was an improvisation by Mendelssohn.
Trailer for Fantasia
Transposed to A minor and adapted for the violin, the opening offers an opportunity to drop down through all four strings of the instrument.
Quadruple stops, not uncommon for 18th-century solo violin music, could have been used in passages such as this, taken from the ending.
References
- Woodstra, Chris, et al. 2005. All Music Guide to Classical Music. All Music Guide, LLC. p. 50. ISBN 0-87930-865-6.
