Thinking About the Fugue As I listened to this piece tonight, I had to reflect upon the totality of the presentation rather than just the genius of the composer. J.S. Bach wrote Tocatta & Fugue in D Minor, first published in 1833. He was the premiere composer of classical organ music at that time, often challenging the designers of organs to build instruments capable of performing his compositions. That may have been the inspiration, but certainly not the fulfillment. And absolutely not the only players in the performance. First, of course, there had to be the creative inspiration. Bach credited nearly all of his work to the Glory of God, and by most accounts did a pretty good job of displaying his appreciation and affection to his Creator. Somebody had to design the instrument, though. Three of Bach’s favorite designers were fellows named Thomaskirke, Silberman, and Schnitger. Each of these instrumental geniuses employed journeymen who created and tuned the pipes, polished and mounted the ranks, ran the air lines and built the stops that enabled the nuances to the tones and presentations. Musical instruments of this scale were not inexpensive, then as now. Their costs were often (and usually) offset by gifts of wealthy parishioners. Beneath the floor of the cathedrals and before the discovery of electricity, up to 20 men stomped on giant bellows to create the air necessary to fuel the pipes and create the sounds from each of the hundreds of finely tuned pipes. Finally, the artist who sat at the multiple-manual keyboards pressed the keys with fingers and toes, choosing the timbre of each of the manuals by opening or closing over 100 stops that controlled the finer musical qualities of the presentation. Some of the contributions seem greater in proportion than others. Composer and artist vis a vis pipe builder and bellows pumper. Tube polisher and installer vs. financial contributor. Yet, the performance would not have been possible without the participation of all, whether we consider their contributions as big or small. I Corinthians 12:14-27 comes to mind as I watch this magnificent performance of “Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor”.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 04:45:53 +0000
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