Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, organ
Bach’s most famous organ piece, with a bar-graph score.
FAQ
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Q: Where can I get free sheet music for this piece?
A: Sheet music for this can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/bwv565imslp
Q: Who wrote Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor?
Q: Isn’t that like asking who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?
A: Heh-heh. A theory has recently (1981) been put forth that J. S. Bach did not write this piece. A brief summary of the supporting evidence for this theory can be read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor#Attribution
Q: Where can I get the mp3 of this?
A: You can download it here:
http://www.musanim.com/mp3/BachToccataAndFugueInDMinorMalinowski.mp3
Q: What does the piece look like as a whole?
A: There are versions you can print out here
http://www.musanim.com/printouts
The ‘scroll’ version is for cutting out and taping together to form a long strip.
Q: Where can I get the MIDI file that this was made from?
A: I’m not sure it’s exactly the same, but the closest I could find was this:
http://www.musanim.com/mid/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor.mid
Q: How did you make this video?
A: You can read about it here:
http://www.musanim.com/ProductionNotes/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor.html
Q: What is the BWV number for this?
A: BWV 565
Q: Where does the toccata end and the fugue begin?
A: The fugue starts at 2:51 and the toccata returns at 7:12, but between these two points, parts which are strictly fugal alternate with episodes that are more toccata-like, so it’s not 100% clear-cut (like in some other toccata/fugue pairs he wrote).
Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Each « stop » on the organ was played on a separate MIDI channel, and each MIDI channel was assigned a color.
Q: What is a fugue?
A: Here is a good introduction:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue
Q: Can I get a DVD with this video (or others like it)?
A: Yes:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/video.html
Q: Could you please do a video of _________?
A: See:
http://www.musanim.com/requests/
Q: Where can I read more about this piece?
A: Here are a couple of places:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/ViewersGuideMAM1996.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor_BWV_565
Q: Why does this piece of music remind me of horror movies?
A: Because it was used in the 1962 version of The Phantom of the Opera. Before that, it did not have that connotation. When Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski used it in the 1940 film Fantasia, they considered it to be a purely abstract piece — « absolute music » — which brought to mind expressionistic forms and lines. […]
