Gosh guys, thanks! And it's nice to see you here! Corno, don't I know you from before with a different name?
I've played BWV 565 a couple times--and just like Krummhorn, the year that Halloween fell on Sunday. Same thing happened--I had a church full of people stay for the postlude and then cheer after it was over! (And this in a Catholic church . . .) I, too, have mixed feelings about it, kind of a love/hate relationship. It has never been proven either way whether Bach wrote it or not. At this point in my life, I think it probably is a youthful piece of his, but I have at times wondered if his oldest son, WF Bach, didn't write it. I don't know. It has a lot of weaknesses in terms of technique but it has a wealth of really good ideas. I honestly don't know what to make of it, but I play it maybe every other year. It kind of makes me grit my teeth that of all the pieces we know by Bach, this, which is certainly well intentioned but weak, is known above, say, the double fugue in F or so many other fantastic pieces. The other thing that galls me is how people associate it with horror movies. I have occasionally had people ask for the "Frankenstein" piece or the "Dracula" piece. I know exactly what they're talking about but I pretend I don't. "Bach never wrote a Dracula piece!" I guess I'd play it more often if the associations were different. I am lucky enough where I work that they know some other pieces. I get a lot listening if I play the "Little" G minor fugue, for instance, or Wachet auf, which I play every year on the first Sunday of Advent. One year I didn't get around to Wachet auf and I heard about it from a couple parishioners!
I have to say, however, that if BWV 565 had magical powers that could transform me into a vampire with blood dripping fangs, I think that just might be a good way to solve the occasional problems that crop up! Then I'd surely play it on an "as needed" basis!!!!
Tom