That single piece everyone knows.

[Dorsetmike]

You mention my Bach number 1, the Passacaglia, not often heard on the radio, come to that few of the keyboard works seem to get much air time other than 565, at least in UK.

The highest Bach placing on the Clasic FM top 300 of 2009 at number 40 was the double violin concerto in D minor, second was 565 at number 57, the only other Bach Keyboard work was the Goldberg Variations, at 158, out of a toal of 13 Bach works. Shows the bulk of the British listening public have no taste for real music

 

[Marc]

You mention my Bach number 1, the Passacaglia, not often heard on the radio, come to that few of the keyboard works seem to get much air time other than 565, at least in UK.

The highest Bach placing on the Clasic FM top 300 of 2009 at number 40 was the double violin concerto in D minor, second was 565 at number 57, the only other Bach Keyboard work was the Goldberg Variations, at 158, out of a toal of 13 Bach works. Shows the bulk of the British listening public have no taste for real music

Well, the Passacaglia probably (I'm a bit cautious) shares my personal Bach Number One position with the opening choir of the Johannes-Passion.

I somehow see this 'superior couple' this way:
the Passacaglia is the entrance of God, and the people on earth react by singing and playing Herr, unser Herrscher, dessen Ruhm in allen Landen herrlich ist!

Mmm, maybe mr. Bach himself would like this vision: it's nothing but S.D.G.!

 

[Soubasse]

Marc, thanks for mentiong the string adaptation, I'd temporarily forgotten about that aspect of it (and it's a perfectly logical assumption given the style of writing). I hadn't forgotten about Ringk and his copy but your mention of him reminded me of where I heard some of this stuff.

I said I "favoured" the theory of a Romantic era pastiche, but I wouldn't say I'm 1000% sold on it either to be honest. It was one of my Musicology lecturers (also an organist) that floated the idea, (and that's decades ago now!). He based his theories on some keyboard techniques of a young Liszt and also some of the things Mendelssohn tried with his organ sonatas (which I really don't like very much either). However, I thought at the time that there was some merit in the idea seeing as how fond Mendelssohn was of JSB. Other postulations came in to the mix such as the fact that the organ fell in to a bit of decline after JSB (thanks to the piano) and that Ringks copy may not have seen any interest (and possibly revision?) until much later when Felix resurrected JSBs music.

These of course are probably far more tenuous than any of the established theories, so as usual, I tend to take most of those ideas with a few grains of NaCl. I still can't listen to 565 and think "Bach" though!