Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist,
harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and
secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo
instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque
period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.
Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched
the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal
technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and
motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms,
forms and textures from abroad, p...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist,
harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and
secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo
instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque
period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.
Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched
the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal
technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and
motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms,
forms and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy
and France.
Early works by Bach are difficult to date precisely.
Tablature or letter-notation, learnt by many a young
organist, leaves one to suppose that other early works
were written out, never transcribed and subsequently
discarded. Not discarded, however, presumably because
of its dedication (to one or other Johann Christoph),
is the Capriccio in E major, BWV 993, a formless,
turgid work whose harmonic poverty suggests not only an
early date but that the young composer had a propensity
to experiment for the sake of it. (His own propensity,
or was he imitating Christoph's?) It must predate the
Passacaglia in C minor by several years. Assuming its
title to be authentic, this capriccio is so different
from another early piece with this title, the
six-movement capriccio in B flat, BWV 992, as to
confirm something implied by the Toccata in D minor
that Bach's interests were ranging widely as he tried
to sustain movements but was not yet achieving much in
the way of harmonic tension. BWV 993 also suggests that
he was already interested in something else of
importance: creating sheer length, sustaining a
movement that did not have the prop of a text or a
program. From what survives of Bach's earliest work, it
does look as if each piece that survives is a
self-given study or exercise.
This Capriccio in honorem Johann Christoph Bach for
keyboard in E Major (BWV 993) appears to be one of
Bach's first attempts to use the fugue form, perhaps
struggling with some of the same issues amateurs have
trouble with today (in fugue writing) but even when
immature, he was a force to be reckoned with!?
Source: IMSLP
(http://imslp.org/wiki/Capriccio_in_E_major,_BWV_993_(B
ach,_Johann_Sebastian))
Although originally written for Harpsichord. I created
this Arrangement of the Capriccio in E Major (BWV 993)
for String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC