Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582

interpreted for orchestra by Ottorino Respighi (1879--1936)

“It’s like a cathedral constructed only of sounds, a work of architecture of divine perfection,” said Respighi of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor as he was working on it in 1930. And when he said “cathedral” he wasn’t thinking of anything like the castle chapel in Weimar where, as court organist, Bach is thought to have written the Passacaglia some time between 1708 and 1712. It is quite clear from the very beginning of what Respighi called his “interpretazione orchestrale” that he had nothing less than a great interior like that of St Peter’s Rome in mind. Bach’s eight-bar theme is introduced not only with the full majesty of the lower registers of the organ but also the massed solemnity of three bassoons and double bassoon, three trombones and tuba, cellos and basses. As we know from his Roman tone poems, Respighi was not shy of the grandiose orchestral effect but in the course of this work, master of instrumentation as he was, he excels even himself in that respect.

Not all the episodes in the Passacaglia have such profound reverberations. However, of the twenty variations that follow, as the cycle turns with every eight bars, all but seven of them present the passacaglia theme in the bass, usually with some dynamic force. Of those that are lighter in texture, there is a central group of a more lyrical, if not exactly intimate, nature, featuring expressive upper strings and woodwind. With the sixteenth variation, the theme returns to the bass in its original rhythmic shape to accumulate more and more colour. The timpani make their striking first entry at the beginning of the eighteenth variation and at the end of the twentieth a solitary bassoon is left holding a middle C which is to become the first note of the theme in its abbreviated form as a fugue subject. Successive fugal entries - from oboe, bass clarinet and lower strings, three horns and so on - create another increasingly complex and increasingly impressive orchestral texture until the cathedral edifice is unmistakably complete.

Commissioned by Arturo Toscanini, Respighi’s orchestration of the Passacaglia and Fugue was first performed under his direction in the Carnegie Hall, New York, in April 1930. “The Passacaglia had a great success,” the conductor informed the composer in a telegram. “It is masterfully orchestrated. Bravo Respighi! Greetings - Toscanini.”

Gerald Larner©