Js Bach Pedalexercitium In G Minor Bwv 598

[Peter Clark]

Has this pedal solo piece been authenticated as by JSB? The copy I have suggests it is a fragment as it ends on a low d held for a few beats. Some of the figures used are reminiscent of passages in other works so I wonder if it might be some kind of "compilation" - or even possibly Bach could have written it as a test piece?

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[Vox Humana]

The authorship is still not certain, but I believe that current opinion favours Bach more than used to be the case. It certainly sounds strong enough to be JSB to me.

 

The piece is clearly incomplete. A new edition is now available from Bärenreiter (search for BA 5243). From this it appears that the original ends with a few sketchy chords on two staves (or perhaps it's three- I haven't got the score to hand). The purpose of these is not clear, but presumably they sketch the chordal structure for what was to follow - either feet alone or hands and feet, who knows? But even these chords do not provide a cadence.

[MusingMuso]

The authorship is still not certain, but I believe that current opinion favours Bach more than used to be the case. It certainly sounds strong enough to be JSB to me.

 

The piece is clearly incomplete. A new edition is now available from Bärenreiter (search for BA 5243). From this it appears that the original ends with a few sketchy chords on two staves (or perhaps it's three- I haven't got the score to hand). The purpose of these is not clear, but presumably they sketch the chordal structure for what was to follow - either feet alone or hands and feet, who knows? But even these chords do not provide a cadence.

 

 

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I also "sense" that is Bach senior.

 

Why do people always play it so loud and so fast?

 

Played softly on a clear registration, and a steady pace, with meticulous phrasing and a little detachment, it really is GOOD MUSIC.

 

MM

[kropf]

An upcoming question when questioning JSBs authorship is always: Who else could have done it?

If JSB, it is certainly an earlier piece (considering the style), and if you ever made a survey what existed as written (and, of course, until today preserved...) music in those years in the area, you will always conclude that JSB's capabilities were far above those of contemporary "masters" (even if Buxtehude and Pachelbel where succesful in solving several musical problems, as far as we know today), what means: Most of the finer pieces could not have been written by others. Some would count the Pedal exercitium among them, some would not...