J.

S BACH

Fugue in G Minor
Little Fugue

BWV 578
BC.J66
IJB 225
IMH 2021
A001
Fugue in G Minor
“Little Fugue”
Johann Sebastian Bach

Composed in 1707
First published in 1845

Edition by
Santiago Andres Barrero Salinas
Head of editing team
IMH 2021
1rst Edition, Published in September 2021

Imperial Music House 2021

Imperial House Industries

This music is public domain

Commercial use is prohibited, all the material related to IMH is

only for educational and artistic use, except the official products
of the brand
 JOHANN
SEBASTIAN BACH
(born in March 31, 1685, in Eisenach, Thuringia,
Ernestine Saxon Duchies, Germany; died in
July 28, 1750, Leipzig), was a composer of the
baroque period, the most known member
of a large family of musicians; he worked
as a harpsichordist, organist, and expert on
organ building, but he was also a violist and
violinist; Bach is now generally known as one
of the greatest composers of all time due to his
innovation in complexity and style, his most
known works are the Brandenburg Concertos,
The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B
Minor, and numerous other masterpieces of
church and instrumental repertoire.
Bach’s style is baroque, characterized by lots
of notes, ornamentation, clear rhythms, and
steady shifts of underlying harmony, but he
explored harmony much more deeply than other
composers of the time: compared to Handel or
Vivaldi, Bach’s music can contain extraordinarily
surprising chords and intense dissonance, and
will jump off to many different harmonic areas.
It is also ‘absolute music’ which means that it
often seems to exist apart from any particular
instrument, as a constructional idea by itself;
consequently, the same piece can work as
effectively on a piano as a guitar, as a choral work,
or an orchestral arrangement.
Bach enriched the german baroque music styles
with his mastery and perfect use of counterpoint,
harmony, and a motivic organization; also with
his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures
from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.
(1685-1750)
Bach’s compositions include hundreds of cantatas,
both sacred and secular, he composed Latin
church music, passions, oratorios, and motets. He
often adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his
larger vocal works but for instance also
in his four-part chorales and his sacred
songs. He wrote extensively for organ and
other keyboard instruments, he composed
concertos, for instance, for violin and harp-
sichord, and suites, and chamber music as
well as for orchestra, many of his works
employ the genres of canon and fugue.
Bach’s thousand-plus works enjoyed rela-
tively little appreciation in his lifetime, his
music was considered a little old-fashioned
for its time due to his perfect organization
and use of counterpoint, it was enjoyed only
by connoisseurs. Bach’s main reputation was
not as a composer, but as an astoundingly
gifted organ player and improviser, and
consultant for organ repair.
By the 1840s he was largely forgotten except
to historians, but Felix Mendelssohn revived
Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion’, and musicians
steadily rediscovered his extraordinary
body of work making his legacy what we
know today.
1.
This piece is found in many copies from
Bach’s day. Around 100 years after his death,
it was published no fewer than four times in
rapid succession. Bach’s pupil Johann Georg
Schübler thought the theme was so success-
ful that he made a fugue out of it himself.
01
So it was an immensely popular piece. It is
not surprising, as the music is bursting with
enjoyment. It conjures up a picture of Bach
writing enthusiastically and enjoying his
own theme while composing. It’s as though
he can’t get enough of it, as it is a relatively
long time before the second entrance appears.
This piece, however, was not just a game for
the composer, but is also fun to listen to and to
play. So when organists refer to this piece as the
‘Little’, it is not meant to be denigrating, but
is purely to avoid confusion with Bach’s other,
longer fugue in G minor, BWV 542, the ‘Great’.

The piece as a whole has an Italian feel to it and the

opening is reminiscent of a violin melody, which
is handy to play with an open D string. Although
there is plenty of other music that clearly shows
a composer relishing his own ideas, it is usually
of interest mainly as a ‘composition game’.
Scan this QR code to visit our Youtube channel,
where you can find the animeted score video of this
piece and many more.

1. Description of the piece literally extracted from The Netherlands Bach Society Web Page;
Article avaliable at https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-578/
02
 Fugue in G Minor
Little Fugue

Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685-1750)

Composed in 1707

First published in 1845

Edition by
Santiago Andres Barrero Salinas
Imperial Music House

BWV 578
BC.J66
IJB 225
IMH 2021
BWV 578 - BC.J66 - IJB 225 - IMH 2021 03
First Entry
   
 = 75

                             
Manual
  

   

     
Pedal 


                                
5

          
            


  

    

    


                                      
8

     
              


                     
    
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 
                                    
11

      
       
 
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

  
       
 
    


                     
14

       
                       
 


  
    
                             

    

04 BWV 578 - BC.J66 - IJB 225 - IMH 2021
           
   
            
17

    


          
          
  
                        

          
      


              
 
20

 


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         
   
 

                           
             
         


           
23

                 
        


     
   
        
  
    


26
   
                   

 
 
                            
                   


 

         
    


Episode

  
29

                                        

     
                  

    

    
  
BWV 578 - BC.J66 - IJB 225 - IMH 2021
05
                
32

              


     

  
          
 

   
    

                                 
34

 


  
 
  
             

   


                
36

                 

  

   

               
  

   


38
                
    
       
                



     
 
   


   
40

                                


                 
   

    
    
06 BWV 578 - BC.J66 - IJB 225 - IMH 2021
 
42
               
                        


  
    

          
       

44
                        
                

  

 
 


   
        
    


                               
46

        


 


          

     
  


48
                             

                    


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51

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BWV 578 - BC.J66 - IJB 225 - IMH 2021
07
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54

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66

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08 BWV 578 - BC.J66 - IJB 225 - IMH 2021
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BWV 578
BC.J66
IJB 225
IMH 2021
A001