These toccatas by Bach pay homage to the great masters of North Germany, who fascinated him with their art of counterpoint.
Compositional Technique
The term 'toccata' originates from Italy, where it initially referred to a piece for 'touching' (toccare) a solo polyphonic instrument like an organ, harpsichord, or lute.
Compositional Technique
Toccatas traditionally feature an alternation between rapid, free, and harmonically bold passages, and sections written in serious counterpoint, such as fugues or imitative styles.
Composer Biography
Johann Sebastian Bach began writing these toccatas for harpsichord around the age of twenty, marking the end of his apprenticeship.
Historical Context
Seventeenth-century North German organists developed a learned contrapuntal style with original harmonic explorations, sometimes called the stylus fantasticus.
Instruments
Blandine Rannou performs on a harpsichord made in 1988 by Anthony Sidey and Frédéric Bal, copied after a Ruckers-Hemsch instrument from 1636-1763.
