Toccata and Fugue in Dm, BWV 565 by J.S. Bach | First Time Reaction!
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- Опубліковано 12 лют 2021
- How many times does DJ say "Wow!" in this one? Should that be a drinking game? And that organ is crazy!
Original video by @JeanBaptisteDupont:
• J. S. Bach, Toccata an...
Toccata and Fugue in Dm CD:
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Thank you so much that you chose my version of that piece for your video. 👍 that was fun whatching ! (It would be very kind if you don't mind to put the link to the original video or mention the name ofbthe performer 😉😉😉 ). 🙏👌🙌
So glad you saw it. We couldn't believe how well you played it! Adding link in desciption!
@@GetSidewaysReacts thank you so much ! 😉
Cracking J-B!
Yes I agree! You guys please put J-BD’s UA-cam link there too. You did a great presentation introducing the pipe organ, and I would tell my students to watch this episode too but not until my colleague’s video is acknowledged and the link included.
@@JenniferChou The link has been up, it's in the description
Has anybody commented on the fact that the organist is playing WITHOUT sheet music? This massive, complex masterpiece is by heart.
Absolutely insane. It’s like memorizing a novel word for word. He’s probably practiced this 1,000 times and played it 1,000 more.
@@modelcitizen1977 yes sure
Sometimes that's easier. Can you imagine trying to turn pages of a score and keep up with where you are on the pages while trying to play all of this? I studied piano for several years, and with some pieces it was just easier to memorize things; once you have it, your mind does not consciously think about it; you just turn yourself loose and it automatically flows from you.
@@LynnThompsonAuthor Actually, most musicians do memorize the musical pieces/songs (whichever genre) they play. The sheets are most of the time just used as a safety net/visual guide.
Consider that this piece isn't by far the most difficult one ever composed for organ!
Imagine being in that church/cathedral and not just hearing the music but feeling it with your whole body... the thought sends shivers down my spine.
"why do i hear the boss music!?!"
I've experienced the lope organ live. Holy crap it was incredible!
Not only that, but imagine that you're like 17 years old, you've lived in a small farming village your entire life. The only music you've ever heard have been from traveling bards with a little lute or a recorder or something. It's fun, it's a nice little distraction from the drudgery of farming. But then you gotta go to the nearest large town for some kind of supplies or what have you. And you see a gothic cathedral for the first time. Looking absolutely impossible. And you attend a service, and they play their organ, which is the size of the entire building. The incense in the air, the music surrounding you. This was an all consuming sensory experience unlike anything you've ever gone through in your life at the time. The closest they could've ever come to the full-body experience of a modern concert. And it was potentially a once in a lifetime experience.
I don't have to imagine hearing this in a cathedral. I DID hear it in a cathedral.
I was at school in Carlisle (UK) in the 1960s. One afternoon I skipped school and wondered around the city center for a while. I ended up in the magnificent Carlisle Cathedral, which is spectacular in it's own right. The cathedral was empty. The massive cavernous space almost completely silent.
I sat down close to the rear of the large central nave and after a few minutes I saw the organist enter from the side and sit at the massive organ.
He sat there for a while, doing I don't know what. And at one point he looked round, saw me sitting there, and nodded.
Then he started to play. He played the entire Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor -I like think for me.
Hearing the piece played in that place, the kind of venue it was WRITTEN to be played in, was truly amazing.
The low notes reverberate through your solar plexus. And the music transports you.
Overwhelming.
As the daughter of a church organist...you need to be in the choir loft feeling the whole balcony shake to really get it lol.
He needs to hear this LIVE with all the true vibrations
That instrument sounds like it would start ripping my skin off
There really is nothing like live pipe organ.
I weep every time I hear it in person
100% yes. Heard it performed in a packed Royal Albert Hall on the RAH's enormous organ at least 30 years ago and it's impact has stayed with me to this day.
@@edsiefker1301Absolutely true - especially one that has 32’ reeds in the Pedal organ.
I grew up going to a mid-19th century gothic German-American Catholic church in a tiny town in Minnesota. The pipe organ in the church was imported from Germany by the townspeople and they built the church around it, so it would have the proper sound qualities. In the late 1980s-early 1990s, my father paid to have the organ restored. It was very carefully and painstakingly dismantled piece by piece, shipped back to Germany to the manufacturer (still in business) for full restoration of every single piece, from the tiniest to the most monsterous pipe, to every pedal, stop, key and console. An expert from the company came back with the pieces, oversaw it's reassembly, and then literally tuned it to the church. It took 3 years to complete the project. I'm not sure how much my father paid for the job to get done, but when I was little, my father sang in the choir, and complained to my mother about the organ needing to be refurbished, since it was out of tune from 100+ years of dirt, grime and crud in the pipes, and said if he ever became wealthy, he'd have it done. My mother reminded him of his promise to himself, and he put his money where his mouth is. He has said it's probably the best thing he's ever done with any of the money he's made. The organ won't need that kind of service for another 150 years.
Nice story! Do know how the organ builder is called?
@@dakr1770 No I do not- it has been many years since I have seen the organ up close, as I haven't lived in St. Michael, Minnesota since I was 18, and am now 55 years old. When I was young, I did have occasion to be up in the choir loft on a regular basis where the console was located since I was a member of the children's choir, and would accompany my father when he would sing in the adult choir, but I don't recall seeing a maker's plate on the console. My father had told me who it was and where the instrument was being sent for it's overhaul in the 1990s, when it was being disassembled, but I just don't remember. I wish I did!
@@marcialavine1272 thanks for your answer. But this is a long time ago so it's clear that you can't remember.
and it's wasted playing religious trash in a house of lies. Sad.
@@TheGuruStud Without that "religious trash" as you call it, there wouldn't be ANY modern music. None. All modern music has its roots in classical religious music. If people back then had no interest in improving their worship, there would have been no innovation in music whatsoever. Your ignorance of musical history shows, I'm sorry to say, and denigrating religious music from any era only proves that ignorance, and doesn't say anything about that which you try to belittle, except that ignorance.
And I am not a practicing catholic any longer- I am not even Christian- so don't even bother trying to say I'm defending the Church. I am defending MUSIC- from people who hate for hate's own sake, such as you, as you perpetuate lies of your own. What is truly sad is that you feel qualified to judge anything you know nothing about.
In person the deep notes are not just acoustic. You can feel them in your chest. It’s a total experience.
we go to the club for the subs
we go to church for the bass pipes
Here is a video one of the best organ player performing toccata and fugue on one of the best baroque pipe organs. He waits for the music to breath... it is (as supposed to from my point of view) 12 minute long... He uses the building itself as an instrument.
When you hear THAT live, it shakes your whole body, and you hear sounds no Hi-Fi speakers can reproduce. It is an experience for a lifetime!
ua-cam.com/video/FHNLdHe8uxY/v-deo.html
I’ve played pipe organ. It is the ultimate acoustic sound trip
The first time I heard a pipe organ go that low it was incredible. It rumbled me out of my seat in tune to the music.😮😮😮😮 This has to be heard in person to get the full effect.❤
It is like living inside and earthquake.
"Playing the organ is easy. All you have to do is press the right keys at the right time and the instrument practically plays itself."
J S Bach (who obviously had a good sense of humour to accompany his musical mastery)
A real German Jokester that Johann!
I believe he also said that "the power is in the pedals".
@@hlcepeda Dunno if he said that or not, but it's unquestionably true that the power of an organ is in the pedals.
Except to get the note to sound when you want it, you need to press the key a fraction of a second before the note sounds. This is because the pipes require air to fill them before they make a sound.
The 64 foot long pipes are like 5 stories tall and a couple feet (give or take) in diameter. The highest notes are roughly the size of a pencil. (The deeper the note, the longer the delay.)
It's amazing.
This is from the Baroque era, roughly 1600 to 1750, the year of Bach’s death. What you need to realize about Bach’s music, particularly this piece, is he wrote these incredible sequences of melodies, one after another after another, all of them harmonically “perfect.” Although his music was written like regular scores, with individual notes, it could also be reasonably written in tabs, like guitar, because the chords line up so well. There of course would be several notes connecting them, but the harmony is so perfectly written that it makes sense that way as well.
You can hear pipe organs in churches and cathedrals. When I visit Europe, when I get tired of going to museums or markets, I always find a church to go into. There’s almost always somebody in there practicing, and it’s fantastic. I like to say that even though I’m not a religious person, having that sound pour down on you from the rafters is almost enough to make you believe in God.
worth mentioning since they are counterpoint compositions, their harmonic relation is not the first aspect regarding them, but rather the independence of each voice. And no, i am pretty sure it could not be written in tabs. In my opinion this works don't really fit inside the mind of most musicians, and i am a guitarist. The guitar nor violin nor pretty much any other instrument is completely unable to replicate the power and complexity of this work.
And on the belief of God: I believe that, after really seeing this works and listening to them, if you do think seriously about it, you will sooner or later realize that the closest to God is the human mind itself.
If today you hear his voice harden not your heart.
From some book on the life of J. S. Bach, I read that Bach wanted his music to be to the glory of God, btw, I have an older friend of family (he was my oldest sister's second husband for most of the 1980's, they live together, but not married), my oldest sister is Christian, he isn't, as he has doubts regarding the existence of God/Jesus, one time he told me in person, that he doesn't enjoy anything by J. S. Bach, I think it's interesting that you enjoy the music played in a church, despite whatever reason/s for yourself to not be religious.
@@javierdiazsantanaYou can actually find some good versions of this for guitar. I think it sounds beautiful on guitar, but it still doesn't have the power of the organ due to all the complex chords and the range of notes being played at once.
Churches alone are a reason to visit many cities, towns and villages in Europe. Each church is a museum in and of itself.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a sixteenth generation musician. Up to his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, all were musicians or organ builders. So he knew the instrument very well and was also the most virtuoso organ player of his time. As a composer, he cannot be explained. Over a thousand works and almost all of incredible quality. He was arguably the greatest artist of all time.
and his children were all good composers too. not sure about anything after that
@@Johnadams20760 they were rubbish compared to JSB, he still stands out as the best of all time. Paganni, mozart beethoven ect dont come close either.
No argument, he IS the best. Anyone who disagrees is a tone deaf moron.
i have played in orchestras my entire life including interlochen national arts/music camp which is world renowned, been to the DSO many many times and played and listend to and read up on tons of music. Bach is one of the best. one of the top 3 easily. bach, mozart and beethoven are the top 3 and can be in any order. mozart was the most gifted by far. it is tough to compare though given he died at age 35. if mozart lived even til only 40 there wouldn't even be a debate. if he lived to over 70 like Bach did, same thing. but I absoltuely love bach. and all i said was that Bach's children were excellent composers. for you to come on here after my simple statement and the way you approcah it, you are a self serving intellectual snob sorry. you just are
@@Johnadams20760 beethoven was formulaic, his best was moonlight sonata which stands out as different. JSB's kids did some decent stuff but not even close to JSB and i dont rate them near even mozart and beethoven. Mozart came later, and style had developed as a result and was good. But nothing mozart did compares to this piece and air on a g string too. Being prolific does not make you the best. Doing something far beyond what anybody else was doing or did for many years is what JSB did. And nothing has equalled it since. Coming close alot of times does not cut it.
Yes, Baroque. Everyone knows the first few bars, but the whole piece, especially the fugue, is a masterpiece. Check out the Passacaglia and Fugue and C minor next!
Passacaglia and fugue in c minor is an absolute masterpiece
His Passacaglia is indeed an unsurpassed masterpiece.
ua-cam.com/video/nVoFLM_BDgs/v-deo.html
Toccata in d "dorian" would also be a good choice.
I'd go with the "little fugue" in Gm and the Fantasia and Fugue in Gm myself.
The pipe organ is “The King of Instruments” and Bach was its master. This is a prime performance of an early Bach masterpiece. I’m sure the performer did this in one take because this is a standard piece in the organ repertoire. (And his repertoire would be extensive.)
The instrument “pipes” come in different types, sounding like flutes, strings, trumpets, oboes, etc. Each set is called a “stop”. Large instruments can have over 10k pipes. And yes, the different “stops” of pipes can be linked to different keyboards and pedalboard and the keyboards and pedalboard can be linked to each other in different combinations.
You saw him pulling levers to make different sounds. Each lever controls a “stop”. If all of them were pulled out, the instrument would be extremely loud and impressive, which is the origin of the phrase “pulling out all the stops”!
I don't think there is any information existing about when this piece was written so I am wondering when you say it was early in Bach's career.
It's the QUEEN of Instruments" You are confusing something. The organ is "female article"
My grandfather played a pipe organ at church. Dad worked the bellows.
@@MrBulky992 it's a large debate in the organ circles if bach wrote it at all....
Yet, it was Mozart who called the pipe organ the 'King of Instruments'. ijs
As a violinist and composer, I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate the respect you both gave both Bach and Mr. Dupont by listening without talking over the performance. It’s precisely seeing your willingness to explore and appreciate other forms of music that makes your video so satisfying to me as a musician. Thank you for sharing your experience! Liked and subscribed!
👍 I thought the same. (Incidentally, I play organ and violin).
As a pipe organ builder and amateur organist, this is exactly how I felt, too!
You cannot appreciate this piece until you're heard it in a large cathedral in Europe like I have. It shakes everything and you can feel it in your feet.
i agree, heard it in Dresden on the organ Bach played on, just mindblowing...
Yeah hearing it in an American church isn’t that much of an experience because we feel the need to put carpets In our churches and that castrates the reverb of the organ and doesn’t let it sing like organs in Europe do. Finding an organ in the us with good reverb is like finding a needle in a haystack
@@SoggySandwich80 Really ? You have CARPET in your churches?
@@tomjoad1363 yes I've visited a number of American churches and they have thick carpets. Very strange.
I had the chance to listen it in the Strasbourg cathedral... it was magic, as if you go back in time !
Mozart goes to heaven and God says: "You'll be the conductor of my celestial orchestra!" Mozart says:"Thank you God but...what about Bach?" And God responds:"I am Bach!"
Clever
@@GetSidewaysReacts 😅
there is a similar joke, a guy dies and goes to heaven hears and hears an organ playing, whos that?? he asks,oh that's god , he thinks he's bach.
Nice one... it’s kinda true
That's by far the best definition of Bach I ever heard. Thanks a million!
If you ever get a chance to see someone perform any of Bach's toccata and fugues in person, please do. It will send chills through your body and soul.
Listen to anything played by Xaver Varnus. He is amassing.
the thing is that you guys are listening to a pretty good reproduction of the original sound through headphones. hearing that organ in person is another experience, because the sound waves (especially the notes from the huge 32-foot pipes) fill the entire room and shake your body - you feel it especially in your chest cavity. it's as if listening through headphones shows you some pink, purple, and a little orange, but listening in person in that room fires up all the other colors, especially the brilliant firey red and deep thunderous dark blue and purple.
Some romantic pipe organs have 64 foot bass pipes you can't play them separately because we can't even hear those low tones but you can add them under the 32 foot bass pipes for even more power. It's like a wall of sound hitting you in the face.
Bach was metal, before metal music was a thing. This wasn't measured in decibel, but in richter.
I've always said Bach is Heavy Metal and that the bands that think they are Heavy Metal, are Lightweight Metal compared to Bach.
Yes, Karl Richter!
Heavy Metal is Portable Metal. Bach is THE METAL GODS ARE CALLING FOR YOU Metal.
If it's metal before metal was a thing then It's not metal! 🤦
No, bach is no metal! But R&R!
When eminent biologist and author Lewis Thomas was asked what message he would choose to send from Earth into outer space in the Voyager spacecraft, he answered, "I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach." After a pause, he added, "But that would be boasting."
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky were sent into space voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/
@@foxjacket Stravinsky definitely does not belong there.
Same story is attributed to Carl Sagan when choosing what sounds to go on the Voyager record.
As long as you're boasting in God, who gave Bach and the other greats their great talents. I always wonder it Bach and Vivaldi (who worked for the churches) were saved and are in heaven. They are examples of God's beauty worked out in their hands and feet.
@@walterf6993 Gawd is a delusion. Stop holy rolling, thanks.
One once said: "Bach is the light that illuminates all music"
And music such as this illuminates our souls.
So Bach is metal?
People do not appreciate that Bach was the first to use syncopated rhythms in his pieces. The best way to appreciate how brilliant he was is to listen to Les Swingle Singers on their album "Jazz Sebastien Bach". All they added was a string bass and a snare drum with brushes. Some keys were changed to suit the human voice otherwise each track is sung note for note as Bach wrote it all those years ago.
I have that album as well as their take on Mozart. Greatest vocal group of its time. No wonder people have been in awe of Bach for centuries. Well, he was kind of forgotten after his death when his type of music no longer was vogue but rediscovered in the 19th century.
Bach was the original "jazzer".
The first In EUROPE.
Bach is one of the greatest musicians ever lived on Earth.Outer terrestrial genius
I would say Bach is the only reason that humanity should be remembered altogether!
July 28, 1750. The day the music died.
And yet its probable he didn't write it
@@EmeraldPixelGamingEPG And Mozart didn't write the Requiem, and Beethoven didn't write the 9th, and ... bla bla bla.
He wrote this Toccata betweent 1703 and 1707. He was 18 when he started writing it.
It may have already been said, but if you REALLY wish to blow your own mind(s), go to a concert of this in a huge church. The low notes are unlike a rock concert. The hertz are so low your body cavity will vibrate! The echo is amazing, too. So glad to see people enjoying Bach. 🙂
12Tone did a video on why Metal needs be to played loud and the physical part. ua-cam.com/video/8fEdIKG7pm8/v-deo.html
Go to a symphony. Hearing a symphony orchestra live is mind blowing.
@@thomasmartin8362 I'm sorry, this piece is meant for the organ. I have had the pleasure of hearing the piece both in orchestra, and on a 18th century Wagner organ, which is similar to what Bach would have played on, and on a 1930s Steinmayer orgel which basically uses as full medival cathedral as the instrument. This piece is just so much more powerful on the organ than in orchestra that is not even comparable.
@@kattkatt744 I was thinking beyond this piece and the power of a large acoustic ensemble. Of course, the symphony orchestra is best with music composed just for it. And being there live is completely different than listening to a recording on even a high end system.
A big pipe organ cannot be recreated on headphones or speakers. It surrounds you and you can feel the harmonics in the air around you and the 32 foot pipes thump in your chest.
Bach is a rockstar God of Music that shook Heaven, Earth, and Hell with his music. Genius headbanger music. The fugue is insane. Beethoven even declared Bach his god. Unfortunately, Bach was relatively unknown during his time which is so heartbreaking. But yea, he laid the foundation for all of Western Music. Insane... One man. Bach's greatest modern influence is in Jazz. He was the inventor of improvisation in music.
Improvisation was pretty much the norm even before Bach - recordings did not exist and sheet music was rare and expensive so most musicians would learn to play by ear.What he really worked hard on - and is probably his big contribution - is making the most of and spreading the knowledge and acceptance of the well-tempered scale and tuning, which makes changing key DURING a piece possible.
That's what I always say ❤
I love how DJ went from tired to intrigued to existential crisis to happy laughter over the course of the piece.
Ah, to be young and hear it all over again for the first time. Bach wrote this at about 18, but the most incredible thing about Bach is that he wrote over 1,000 major works, had a big family, and died at 65. Someone calculated that it would take 20 years just to copy Bach’s works by hand…..and Bach composed it.
“Compared to Bach, we all suck.” - Rick Beato
Damn...painfully well said!
Actually, Rick was quoting Pat Metheny. But it’s true nonetheless.
My brother was a child prodigy on the pipe organ, so you can only imagine how amazing this sounded. He was head organist at one of the largest churches in our diocese for 42 years. Every Halloween, he would crank up the bellows at the end each mass and play The Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. It would absolutely thunder through the church and you could feel the pedals quaking through the pews. It was truly a sound to behold. The parishioners absolutely loved it! Unfortunately, we lost him at the very beginning of the Covid outbreak. Sadly, this Halloween tradition did not continue beyond my brother's death.
sorry to hear that
Sorry for you loss.
What a beautiful energy your brother brought to people...he was special 💗
Your brother left a huge mark on those that heard him play. Rest in Peace.
Jup, the deep feeling of that sound in church. Us choir boys got tastes of organists having fun during rehearsal breaks, probably showing off. No wonder we know that Bach piece.
The piece of music that around the year 1704, more than 300 hundred years ago and it still rocks!
You really do need to SEE Bach's organ music played to appreciate the brilliance of it. I call Bach's music the mathematics of heaven.
Virgil Fox called the first three notes "Bach calling to God". I think he was right.
"you're looking to a instrument the size of a building". Almost right. Technically the building is the instrument since it's used as an acoustic chamber, almos the same way as the body of a acoustic guitar.
Not really! The pipes are the accustic chambers. The buildings accoustic is said to be an important stop for every organ, yes. But technical, every organ is a "stand alone" instrument like every other accoustic instrument, too.
If you get the chance, you should definitely listen to a pipe organ in real life.
This instrument has 32' stops, which are so low-pitched, you can only feel the vibrations in the air for the lower notes. It's truly insane when you're actually there.
I'd love to
Or at least use a good PA with a sufficient sub instead of headphones...
The room we're in has 11 speakers including two subwoofers. We could listen again on that but I'd rather hear one in person. I couldn't even imagine how incredible it would sound.
@@GetSidewaysReacts I know a lot of very fine organists all around the country, and most of them are willing to introduce new people to the instrument. I know I certainly am. If you're ever in central NC, let me know and I'll get you in to see a good organ somewhere! Haha
@@GetSidewaysReacts So here's the thing: Even a really good sub or pair of them can't give you the truly visceral experience of a pipe whose native frequency is 32Hz (low, low C♮).
The sub(s) just can't move that much air...
(And even-though the science of acoustics had yet to be invented, those designers knew empirically how, and had the math, to proportion a room around the instrument that would amplify the frequencies produced by the pipes. They'd already been doing it for quite a while by Bach's time.)
That is unquestionably one of the greatest pieces of music ever composed, and has been interpreted by the likes of Sky and Curved Air, even by some wonderful Jazz Pianists. Watching the Organist in the bottom corner brought back some wonderful memories for me, I used to sing in a male voice choir and when at a recording session during lunch break our conductor would go to the organ and ask us choristers for requests, and yes that was all played from memory, such magical times.
I saw SKY play this at the then Southampton Gaumont (now the Mayflower Theatre) in the mid 1980s with my parents as a birthday treat for me and my stepdad - whose birthdays are on consecutive days! Their version is a great modern interpretation.
As a classical musician I really like to watch this kind of videos because it confirms me that we’re actually doing some pretty cool stuff. 😎
OK guys, I'd like to explain a few things that might not be clear. First, it's not just 48 notes, but much more. You don't multiply the played keys with the number of keyboards, but with the number of stops that are pulled out at that particular moment. One keyboard can have any number of stops, depending on the organ. This one has as far as I could estimate from the video about 12-15 stops for each keyboard. So if you pull out all the stops for a particular keyboard and play just one note, 12-15 sounds will be heard simultaneously. Couple all the keyboards together, pull out all the stops and you get a hurricane of 36-45 sounds by playing just one key. Play with all your fingers and both feet and you have to multiply that 36-45 with 12. Of course, nobody really does that except for fun. The main point of having all those stops is the ability to mix and match the different sounds, different octaves and sound colors in a refined and tasteful way. You can combine ANY number of stops, which gives you an incredible number of possible variations. If your organ is a tiny one, with only 10 stops, you can have (mathematically) 2 on the 10th minus one, that is 1023 possible sound combinations. With an organ like this one in the video, the mathematical possibility is astronomical, in the order of billions. The octaves are like this: on each stop, under the name (which has to do with either the material, the build type or the tone of the pipes that it engages) you see a number. An 8' stop plays in the normal, written range, so your middle C will sound normally. A 16' stop plays an octave lower. A 32' stop two octaves lower. Similarly, a 4' will be an octave higher, 2' two octaves higher, 1' three octaves higher. There are also so-called mutation pipes: a 2.2/3' stop will play an octave and a fifth higher, a 1.1/3 two octaves and a major third higher and so on. Finally there are the mixtures, which engage not only a single pipe when you play a note, but a series of stacked octaves ad fifths, there are normally engaged on top of other, more basic sounds to put a very high shimmer and brilliance in the mix. There are different types and builds of pipe, there are those of metal (an alloy of tin and led), there are many made of wood, those are typically softer. There are labial pipes that look like the ones that you saw in the video, there are reeds that work almost like a harmonica. The huge thing that you see in the video is just the front of the instrument, behind those visible pipes there are hundreds more. I could go on for hours about this, what I told you here is just the very basics of the structure of a pipe organ. Up to the industrial revolution, the two most complex objects created by mankind were the warship and the pipe organ. Btw. I'm a musicologist and I also play the organ a bit, so feel free to ask me if you have any questions. Oh, and this one is a relatively easy piece, 99% of organists have it memorized. There are far, far, faaaaaaaar more difficult and complex pieces written for this instrument, and this is also one of the very few instruments where most players can improvise a piece, even in this Baroque style because it's part of its tradition and schooling.
Wow. Thanks so much for all the info. What far more difficult piece would you recommend? Can you reply with a link below my comment?
@@GetSidewaysReacts OK my friend. I prepared a few links for you. Some by Bach, some by others and also some improvisations and more fun stuff, hoping that you'll really befriend this magnificent and often overlooked instrument. First a fun presentation of the organ of the Berlin Philharmonic by a rebel virtuoso, Cameron Carpenter. He's a bit of a madman, but he has a huge technique: ua-cam.com/video/L1aGPeqWNFw/v-deo.html Then a few links with some less known but wonderful pieces by Bach. Two short preludes played by my friend, the world famous Canadian-Hungarian virtuoso, Varnus Xaver: ua-cam.com/video/nluItzKZycE/v-deo.html Next, the monumental Fantasy in G minor: ua-cam.com/video/pAWZ-sZrfTc/v-deo.html One of my favorites is his D minor Fugue (not the one that you just listened to) ua-cam.com/video/xMxy7eRWTJ4/v-deo.html A maybe less technically challenging but incredibly beautiful piece by the Belgian composer Cesar Franck (fun fact: when I first looked at one of his portraits it was quite scary, he looked EXACTLY like my late father): ua-cam.com/video/7W_bPTJaWa4/v-deo.html By the way, the woman sitting next to my friend Varnus Xaver is Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer Choplin, probably the best improviser alive today. Next, here's a funny arrangement of a thunderous piece by Leon Boellmann, for organ and brass instruments ua-cam.com/video/nv_w99Jm5Qk/v-deo.html And finally a few improvisations. First Xaver improvises in Vivaldi's style: ua-cam.com/video/cd3kUU6pNYc/v-deo.html The same guy in a more modern style over "La Marseillaise" (The National Anthem of France): ua-cam.com/video/Axl5WbAeKww/v-deo.html When our world was separated in two by Communism, many legendary and hugely talented artists ended up being confined to their country, even though they could have achieved world fame. One of them was Melinda Kistetenyi (Xaver's former teacher), an absolute genius who is practiaclly unknown to the world. Here you can see and hear her improvise in Baroque style on live television on a melody that she just got from the audience: ua-cam.com/video/jH-FEQr9ix4/v-deo.html Before I wrap up this, I add a funny video of an organist in the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. In the year before this was made, he had an accident and for months he couldn't use his left hand, so - like any true genius - he used that time to practice playing the pedal. Here's the results: ua-cam.com/video/m_HdrywerGE/v-deo.html And I saved the best for last. Pierre Cochereau was probably the greatest organist of the 20th century. Here he plays Bach's Passacaglia on the organ of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. A passacaglia is a series of variations. The melody that you first hear being played on the pedals (the first 15 notes) is the theme, that will keep repeating with barely any change 21 times during the piece while he will play variations with his hands. Maybe this is the greatest piece of music ever written for this instrument, a mystical, candle-lit funeral dance. Enjoy Cochereau's unparalleled ability to use the different tones and colors of the organ: ua-cam.com/video/T3XqeYiEE3k/v-deo.html I know this is quite long but I think it's worth going down a bit into this rabbit hole!
@@ferencercseyravasz7301 you have good taste, but you left out Duruflé ;)
@@JoshuaSobel I considered some, also Dupré but I think one has to be either musician or a seasoned listener to really appreciate them. Our friend is just making his first steps into this world. It's like someone who just had his first taste of alcohol and wants to broader his experience: at first you're not going to make him taste absinthe..
@@ferencercseyravasz7301 gotcha
Me: How many notes can you play at once.
Bach: Yes.
That was Stockhausen. Bach only played the necessary notes.
He can play a song with so many singing voices.
I mean at least 4 leads at the same time
It's a joy to hear this music again. My mother played it on our church's pipe organ. She was a gifted musician and I recall her practicing this when I was very little. So glad to see the appreciation by younger people! Yes, Bach was a master, my all-time favorite composer. Thank you so much for sharing this performance.
Beethoven Symphony No 7, 2nd Movement, that's all I am going to say, nice reaction
"Beethoven Symphony No 7, 2nd Movement, that's all I am going to say, nice reaction,"
Yes, most definitely - but a bit out of context.
My personal favorite. After 40 years of appreciating classical music. I always come back to the 7th. It just makes me happy.
And after that, Jacques Loussier Trio has an entire album of jazz variations on that movement.
Bach was a baroque composer. If you are ever close to Leipzig, Germany, go to the church where he played. The Thomaskirche is a beautiful building. My wife and I sat there one day and listened to the organist practice for about 45 minutes. It was wonderful.
J.S. Bach is definitely baroque. His many sons, including Johann Christian Bach, made the transition to the classical period.
I hope one day to go there. A trip to Europe is hard for me, because how could I possibly choose from all the incredible places to visit? How can I choose to see Notre Dame, when St Peter's exists? But how can I choose to see St Peter's, when Neuschwanstein exists? Should I go see the Brandenburg Gate, or the Arc de Triomph? I can't afford to visit Europe whenever I like, so I have to be selective. But I just can't prioritize when there's so many fantastic options.
@@reliantncc1864 I was 30 the first time I went to Europe. I was 50 before I was able to go again, but since then I have been to Europe many times. Assume you will be able to go more than once & don't stress about what to see the first time. You will be back.
To know and love Bach is to know and love music.
I've always loved this piece. When in my late teens I got a job with a man who travelled around the country restoring pipe organs. We used to travel all over England tuning and restoring them. I actually hated the job as he was a monster but now I'm older I have more appreciation for what incredible instruments they are. We visited a church in Leicester once and dissemble their entire pipe organ, put it in a Luton van and took it to a school in Warminster and reassembled it. The biggest of the pipes are so heavy but we had to clean every one from the longest to the shortest and rewire all the electrics. It was an awesome task and not opening truly appreciated at the time.
Instrument technicians are often rather eccentric people. After all, they deal with instruments that are, by nd large, horrible neglected and abused by their owners. Churches will go decades without proper maintenance. But those pipes, as you know, are metal, subject to expansion with heat or humidity. There’s bits of leather that can deteriorate. And technicians themselves have very sensitive ears so if something is off, it can be very annoying. Like fingernails on a chalkboard for the rest of us.
How absolutely mindblowing this must have been to hear for the first time back then.
The fact that humans exist and are able to create music like this makes me understand why people would believe in a creator.
“This one is a long one”...me listening everyday to symphonies of 90 minutes or more
They should do St Matthew passions. You need a snack for that.
And I just listen Wagner. 😂
There are not many...Bruckner, Mahler and then?
Now they need to listen to the ring cycle
The attention span these days is so...oh look, a bee!
Pipe organ in large churches & cathedrals were purposefully loud & dynamic. This would be loudest human-made sound a medieval peasant would ever hear. Supposed to represent the awe and power of God.
While that is true. it is also important to play an organ piece on period appropriate instruments. The Cavaillé-Coll organs are all romantic era instruments built in the second half of the 19th Century. They are perfect for the french symphonic organ music of the time.
But to play Bach or any kind of german baroque on an instrument like that is questionable.
The acoustics of those stone church and cathedral buildings are phenomenal
Check out The Joy of Music. She went all over the world and played their great organs.
@@Quotenwagnerianer although Cavaille-Coll built organs in the romantic tradition he did retain much of the pipework of organs already existing with older pipework. A good example is St sulpice in Paris with 40% of pipework by Clicquot and preserved. I think though that Bach can be played on any organ. The genius of the master can be performed anywhere. But yes playing Bach on an 18th century German organ will always be special.
@@Quotenwagnerianer dear Quotenwagnerianer, Mr. Dupont's rendition is absoluty convincing, and this masterpiece of an organ has the might and the poetry to magnificently do justice to the piece. I understand what you mean, and I agree with you, it's terrific to play North- German music or Bach on a Schnitger or Frescobaldi on a XVII century Italian organ. But may be - English is not my native language, as you probably guessed - the word 'questionable' is a bit to strong?
Organists like this are truly outstanding musicians.
I was at Saint Patrick's in NYC when they played this piece. The 100% stone building was shaking from the power of the Organ. If you want to experience the power of an Organ go see a concert. Listening on UA-cam gives it no justice. You will walk out and say WOW. It truly is the King of all instruments.
This organ looks like a mechanical organ. He had to stop playing to adjust the stops. Newer versions are electrical. Pushed 1 button and the stops adjust to what you set it to. So when you play you hit a button and see the stops adjust. You can program different buttons to adjust different stops throughbout the piece. It's programmed before you play the piece. There are UA-cam videos that show you behind the scenes in how it works. It's remarkable. Very complex instrument.
Jean baptiste Dupont is one of france’s premier organists. A musical genius.
That was not written for a horror movie. It was written as a test piece to filter out people who were not able to play the organ properly. Bach got fed up of people ‘playing’ with the organ who were not competent so he wrote the piece and said “If you can’t play this then please don’t waste time tinkling on the organ?”
Simonline 😀👍
NOT. The piece was written to test the organ itself; Some organs called Romantic, could not do a good job of making all of their notes hearable but just generated a muddy mix. German Baroque organs were well suited for this piece. See Albert Schweitzer.
And now of days it's used to test the ability of sound systems to actually reproduce the notes correctly. Most systems fail, even more so on the low notes, they can not reproduce the sound of the organ's 32 foot pipes. They just get muddy on those notes.
Their isn't an instrument alive today that compares to the POWER of a large pipe organ like this. Especially, opened FULLY...!!! I have sung in many chamber choirs with my mom in various cathedrals with large organs like this. And the goosebumps it gives you is INSANE. The reverb is what always does it for me.
My first year of college I took a music appreciation class. Class was held in the campus church, which had a large organ. The prof took me up a floor to a chamber, a part of the organ. In that chamber I was literally surrounded by sound and could feel blasts of air when large pipes were played.
Bach was such a master of harmonics and knew so well how to trigger emotions by changing the scales. Especially in the fugue part, he carries you from joy over feeling elevated to making tears flow in the matter of seconds. You'll find this in many of his works, but this one was well chosen to introduce somebody into the miracles of Baroque musique.
Him pulling the levers is where the saying "pulling out all the stops" came from.
Seeing someone doing this in person is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. And I was lucky enough to see it being done by my music professor.
The fascinating thing about a church organ when you hear it live is two things: First, the sounds of the mechanics, the air, the rumble of the trains, all the sounds that are actually undesirable. Second, the fact that the sound has a space. Every sound has its place, and when you play, the acoustic focus moves through the church space. You can physically feel the low notes, something that is hard to find elsewhere in "classical" music.
A fast scale runs behind you across the nave, constantly changing timbre, accompanied by noises. It sends shivers down my spine.
And then the reverb adds to it...
This piece will literally shake the soul out of your body when heard live.
JS Bach was beyond being a genius. His music will be relevant until the end of time. I am in awe of the mathematical precision of his music. To see it on the paper and her it at the same time is a trip. More so if you play it. I always felt he was the musician's muscian.
Bach like no other suceeds in depicting the essence of what it means to be alive, performing a dance with the universe.
Thank goodness there's no such thing as a soul! I've heard this piece live many times and I'm certain that the imaginary concept of a "soul" never shook out of me.
@@AndrewJens Here's your medal for inability to comprehend figurative language
Bach wrote this piece at 18. The organ is called a tracker, which means it's fully mechanical. Each keyboard has 61 keys and the pedalboard has 32 keys. The largest functioning pipe organ in the world, the Wanamaker organ, is at Macy's department store, formerly Wanamaker's, in Center City Philadelphia. It has 28,750 pipes, six 61-key keyboards, and a 32-key pedalboard. The term BWV means Back Werke Verzeichnis, or Bach Works Catalog.
As you well know of course there is a bigger one and i look forward to hearing it when it is fully restored :)
@@rojostu1 The Midmer-Losh organ at Boardwalk Convention Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. It has 33,114 pipes in 443 ranks. It has a lower number of ranks than the Wanamaker, 443 compared to 462, because it has three different keyboard sizes, 61 keys, 71 keys, and 85 keys. Sadly, a hurricane struck AC in September 1944 and damaged about 75 percent of the pipework. A $16 million dollar restoration project has brought it back to around 50 percent and it will be a few more years until everything is back.
This instrument in France has a keyboard compass of 58 notes.
@@TheHappyCooker68 Th AC organ alos has a 64' pipe
We have no idea when this piece was written. We do not even know for certain that Bach wrote it. The oldest surviving copy is from no earlier than 1730 (and possibly as late as 1760), in the hand of Johannes Ringk. But as it _is_ a copy, it could naturally originate from much earlier. But how much earlier can only be speculated at.
It's nice to listen to it imagining it's the first time you hear music at all or see any art, and you don't know why this guy has such a big machine just produce sounds until they start speaking to you.
It's incredible to see what music really is.
Bach's birth and death define the baroque period for the most part. It is amazing that y'all never heard that before. Very nice performance by Mr. Dupont. Many people never get past the flashy toccata, but the this is a fairly amazing fugue. That is pipe organ. Each pipe is a "whistle" that makes a sound. Different "ranks" have slightly different shaped pipes to make that different types of sounds.
at 14 I discovered classical music. Haven't turned back. comparing popular to classical is like comparing a backyard pool to the ocean. The moon to the universe. It's really worth every second. You can still enjoy all other stuff too, of course.
Same for me. I was 5 years old when I found a CD and listed to it. It was Edvard Grieg and 5 year old me was flashed. I couldn’t imagine something this beautiful was possible. This is where my deep passion for classical Music began. And fingers crossed I’ll pass my entrance test for studying the piano soon ;)
Same here
Comparing today's popular music to classical is like comparing gutter to ocean IMO , i dont understand how people like today's song. I agree some are good of artists like shawn , justin etc but nah the new traps are straight nope IMO even cardi B
Amen, brother. It was Bach's harpsichord concerto in d minor, at age 13. Changed my life. I've got that LP (price tag $2.49!) framed on the wall. All hail JSB.
@@eustachiusvonackertiban1958 Grieg at age 5? Wow that's great. I was around 6 and it was Brahms Hungarian dance no.1. I hope you got to study piano 🎹
The opening of the St-John’s. Passion is also unbelievable.
Sublime
True, it leaves you breathless.
Same thing with Bach’s St. Matthew Passion! The opening chorus has brought me to tears!
This always brings tears to my eyes when I listen to it live.
The amount of coordination it takes to play the pipe organ, on this level, is insane.
I took a semester of organ, after maybe 10 years of piano. I could mostly handle the keyboard work, though it still was difficult.
Adding in the pedals was a whole nother story. Just playing one note at a time, trying to get my feet to behave, was difficult.
Adding in the left hand was okay.
Adding in the right hand was not okay, I ended up playing the left hand with the pedal and the pedal with the left hand.
My father has a masters in organ performance, I have turned pages for his recitals. I sweat more than he does, just watching him. And that's with an organ that has programmable functions, something to allow you to go through pre-programmed piston changes just by pressing one button. This man was playing on a mechanical organ and still absolutely nailed it.
Organ players blow my mind, every time.
Thanks guys! When JS BAch compose this masterpiece was about 19 year old. Stunning!
IMHO the greatest last 60 seconds in music history. J. S. builds up so much tension that he makes the minor resolve feel major. UNREAL! ❤
Then you'll definitely enjoy (the end of) Max Reger's "Fantasie & Fuge" on "Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme" or the end of the first movement of Widor's V. Symphonie pour orgue, or the Finale of his VI. Symphonie....
In a smaller, but similar way, is Chopin's prelude in E. I suggest you listen to a professional play it. It ends in minor, but it's such a relief when it plays.
It's not a tune you listen to, it's a masterpiece you experience.
I have a long loved Toccata and fugue in D minor, and surely this organist is the finest I have yet heard play this piece. This was a treat to both watch and hear. Thank you for sharing!
Old joke: Why did Bach have 20 children? Because his organ didn't have any stops.
Pity his first wife; wore the poor woman out and immediately started on another one...
@@BruinPhD2009 aye but he had to make up for all the other composers who died without children.
He had 20 children?
@@michaelquintana157 Yes he did (not kidding).
The pipe organ has gotta be the world’s most complicated musical instrument! It’s so rare to hear them these days, unless you go to an older church.
It's called "the queen of instruments". The number of combinations of pipes i e sound combinations that are possible to play on a normal organ is so great, that many of them are never ever being played.
Most churches in uk have one, even small parish churches
I was lucky enough to play one a couple of times. My grandfather once helped raising funds for the restoration of a pipe organ built in the middle 1800s in his hometown and he was given access by the parson, so he allowed me to play it a few times. I was studying a different piece by Bach, a two-voice invention, originally written for the harpsichord, but worked well for the organ too.
Some people also refer to it as the world’s first synthesizer. A keyboard that can mimic other instruments: flutes, strings, horns… centuries before electricity.
@@Tom55data Yes. Because there used to be so many people who played, and most churches had organs. And now hardly anybody knows how to play, few people go to church. I’ve been fortunately to hear some of the best in the world in my travels. They are marvels of engineering!
I hope this piece alone gives the younger generation. The apprecaite of the GENIUS that was Bach...!!! He was light years ahead of his time.
It's always nice seeing someone's first reaction to Bach. There's just no one like him.
My next door neighbor is a church organist and a music/choral teacher. He invited my parents and I to his performance of this piece, along with some other works for a "Halloween" organ concert in one of our nearby churches. He was playing on a large pipe organ (that was actually smaller than the pipe organ at the church his family attended and for whom he was the organist.) Ears blown off!! Notes pounded into our chests. Fantastic to hear in person.
Those chords at the end cause the hairs on my arms and neck to stand up EVERY SINGLE TIME! A true masterpiece by a genius who will be listened to until the end of the world!
Just an FYI: When you play a chord on a pipe organ, depending how many stops or 'voices' are pulled out, you can have more than 100 notes playing at once! You have to take into consideration that each key is connected to all the stops/voices assigned to the manual/keyboard that it is on, plus, if it is 'coupled' or connected to the keyboards above or below. This includes the pedalboard. If you noticed, some of the keys activated on the upper manuals when pedals are pressed, indicates that the pedals share some of the same voices as the upper manuals. They are incredibly complex, and also need tuning fairly often, as the pipes change with the weather conditions, age, wear, etc.😮
This has always been one of my favorite pieces of music. I consider it Bach’s masterpiece. But it is an entirely new experience to watch it be performed and see the complexity of putting this magnificent piece of music together on an organ. Thank you so much for sharing. You are becoming a regular favorite of mine.
There is a saying that the pipe organ is the queen of all instruments.
Hearing this masterpiece on an old organ, in a cathedral is an outstanding experience.
The goosebumps and shivers running down your back is like nothing you've had before.
This is coming from a hard-rock and heavy metal fan.
I had the extreme pleasure of listening to this in the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden, Germany from their masterclass organist, Axel LaDeur.
Now imagine before there were automated pumps the pumps had to be powered by one or two people stepping on heavy levers for air bags to be inflated and deflated. For such a long piece it was known that the pumpers often ran out of air themselves because the pumps had to be HUGE to supply such a large organ with the constant airflow.
…Is the king of all musical instruments…not the queen…with lots of respect…😎
@Ruben: maybe rusty speaks German, just as Bach did and I do. our language has three articles and the organ is feminine. So to us she is a queen.
@@jts2561 I mean, some organs are feminine
@@rubenchables8303 depends on the language
@@rubenchables8303 Ooops, yes. In German, it is "Die Orgel", so the pipe organ is female in German.
Mozart said of Bach "He is the father, and we are the children."
Best composer that ever lived!
Beethoven said, "He should be called sea, not brook, because of the never-ending richness of his harmonies."
('bach' is also the German word for 'brook')
In German: _Nicht Bach, sondern Meer sollte er heißen, wegen seines unendlichen, unerschöpflichen Reichtums an Tonkombinationen und Harmonien_
This was said of JS Bach's son, CPE Bach.
It absolutely baffles me that someone has never heard of how a pipe organ works before, but it’s fun to watch :) My brother actually worked as an organ builder, so perhaps I’m biased. Fun fact: Some of the registers are named after the length of the pipes in feet, such as 8’ and 16’. Also, the timbre of a register is influenced by the material, so there are metal pipes for the brighter timbres and wooden pipes for the mellower ones. Last but not least: I am so glad you chose Bach and this piece to introduce him.
Nice to see Jean in the comments on this reaction! I did a little research to find out exactly what organ he was playing for this performance, and it turns out this was the Cavaillé-Coll de la basilique Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, France. All of the Cavaillé-Coll's have a very unique 'French Romantic' register with very powerful reeds, and amazing 16' and 32' bass stops that will rattle your head in the actual cathedral!😄 This rendition in particular, is one of the best I've heard of Bach's BWV 565. When you play in a large space like this, you consequently have to slow it down a bit because of the extended reverb of the instrument, and Jean Baptiste pulled it off flawlessly!!😍🎵🎶
I'm a double bassist and absolutely love Bach. Tocata has to be one of the best pieces of music ever written into.
He wrote many toccatas.... ;-)
Have you heard the version by Sky, with Herbie Flowers on the bass?
Here’s something not mentioned & that he was playing from memory without any music in front of him with an extremely difficult pice. Well done video.
It was mentioned right after they finished listening, at 12:43.
...and Yes played all 20 minutes of Close to the Edge, and 4 sides of Topographic Oceans in one night I saw them (and many other tunes too); Genesis played SZupper's Ready and the whole of Selling England ny the pound (and others) - all this with no written music on stage. It's called memory. Many musicians have it.
It was meant to be played loud. Also with minimum of 20-20Khz speakers.
It’s not that difficult to play from memory. You practice a piece so many times that you memorize it automatically. Muscle memory plays a big role. But once you stop practicing it for a while, your muscles forget it.
@@senefelder Finally, someone explained it. To me me personally, it's far more difficult to read a vista.
He's amazing isn't he? And the organ is amazing too! Thank you Jean-Baptiste! Wonderful performance!
Bach is the Mount Olympus of music. No other composer comes close. The greatest.
I dunno on complexity I think Liszt and Chopin have it on him but it doesn’t mean that Bach was a master of his art.
@@Egryn Depends largely on what you mean by complex. Harmonically and contrapunctally Bach's music is unrivalled. Liszt is just hard and fast.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I would much rather listen to Mozart and Beethoven.
@@lawofseven1465 Baroque music was all the filigree and flair.
Chopin basic played Baroque music after snorting a line of coke.
Wonderful playing and the best video I think I have seen at demonstrating the beauty and complexity of playing this piece on an organ.
JS Bach...arguably the greatest composer of all time!
Baroque is the period, but for the "genre" you can still call it "classical" (lower case c).
Thank you
No, that is incorrect. The period & genre is OLD MUSIC. Classical music ("Wiener Klassik") came AFTER Old Music. Baroque is NOT classical music.
Well done, Guys. It IS the most complicated musical instrument ever built. I grew up in a family that builds them.
Consider this: the ONLY way to hear this music, when it was written, was live. And people traveled a day or more just to hear it.
And at home, no radio, no records-the only music at home was yourself, singing, or playing smaller instruments.
It’s truly amazing-the instrument, the music, the history, all of it.
And yep-a pinhole leak is called a cipher-and they have to call someone like us to CLIMB all up in there, find the single pipe that has the pinhole, and fix it.
I’m watching this and enjoying it SO MUCH! It’s incredible!
Truely one of the most powerful pieces of music ever written and the reason I became an organist. Beautiful playing Mr Dupont!! Bravo!
There is a reason why the pipe organ is called the "Queen of Instruments", at least here in Germany. I had the honour and pleasure to hear this piece on every important occassion in my life. My dad was a conservatorium-studied musician (besides the pipe organ, he played 4 other instruments and conducted a choire; he performed this piece for his Nuremberg conservatorium graduation) and performed it on every important occassion in my life (my christening ceremony, confirmation, marriage. For the last time for the christening of his granddaughter). Every time, it was an earth shattering experience.
My mother was a church organist and happiest when playing a pipe organ. She said this piece was written by and spoke to the heart of all organists. At her request, at her funeral this was the postlude (when people get up and walk out of the church). No one got up until it was done. As she said - it was the perfect send off for an organist.
PS
He is very correct about the instrument - a pipe organ - but there are a few very interesting points few people realize even when attending a live performance. The audience or congregation is sitting INSIDE of the pipe organ. All the pipes are not all visible, though a good builder usually tries to show them off. The position of the pipes and the orientation combined with the acoustic properties of the chamber is what gives the organ its character. There are pipes, and many pipe organs have trumpets and special trumpets for fanfares and other special "voices". Those keyboards are called manuals and the "things" he was pulling and pushing are stops. Oh that just scratches the surface and because I am old now I am sure I made a mistake in there somewhere so if you spot one, please correct me. Just know they are best heard at a live performance because it is felt as much as it is heard. Oh, and in some organs there is a 64 foot pipe which can not be explained - and I think he used it on this performance. It's as low as it goes! LOL!!
Fun fact: The reason the opening of the Toccata section is so strongly associated with Halloween and scary movies is because Dracula played it on an organ in the original Dracula movie from the 1930s.
One thing to notice and appreciate is how long the reverb is in that acoustic! It's just awesome. I can tell you there is absolutely nothing that compares with hearing a large organ playing full out like this in a big cathedral acoustic with a reverb like that. It's truly like thunder. You can hear and feel the sound rolling through the whole place and feel it in your whole body. A good digital recording with good headphones gives you a decent idea, but in person is incomparable.
Also, the fugue section, as impressive and enjoyable as it is on first listen, it takes a lot of listens to start to pick apart what is really going on compositionally. A fugue consists of a melodic theme that recurs and overlaps in various ways throughout the piece (sometimes in part, sometimes in full, sometimes inverted or other variations). The technique for writing fugues is called counterpoint and it is VERY difficult, like a mathematical puzzle. Many of the greatest composers through history wrote extremely good fugues, but nobody had quite the brain for counterpoint that Bach did.
All those little valves are called stops. If you play the organ to its fullest, you "pull out all the stops"
That's probably the origin of the phrase 'bringing the house down' too, lol
Are those metal things above the pedals work similarly to the stops?
@@ydgames4291 the toe studs can replicate the function of the hand stops (for use when hands are unable to do it) but some have unique functions like engaging the entire organ in one move. The pedals between them control volume and expression.
@@wrorchestra1 intresting
Baroque: ~1600 - 1750
Lots of frilly ornamentation
Classical: 1750 - ~1800
Clean, crisp, clear
Romantic: ~1800 - ~1900
Lush and emotional
Modern: Post 1900
Chamber: Written for a small group of instruments, rather than a lot of them.
I know nothing about music but studied art history, thank you!
it's hard to believe a mortal actually composed that. The genius of it makes me cry !!
This is really an awesome performance; with the ambiance of the cathedral. Wow!!!
Think of the organ as the "electric guitar" of the Renaissance, and a young J.S. Bach eager to show off, taking advantage of all the power of the instrument, and the whole piece makes a lot more sense. His later fugues are often more "dry", more intellect than emotion, but the passion in his earlier music such as this is what typically captures new listeners of the modern era.q
There's more truth to this than most people think: distortion with an electric instrument was the first way to approximate the spectral quality of a pipe organ.
Ha! So true! I'm new to this channel, but have they reacted to/commented on guitarists who are known to have been influenced by "classical" pieces, and this piece in general? (Matt Bellamy from Muse specifically comes to mind, and Plug in Baby in particular... but I know there are many, many more!)
Beautiful piece of music, and so beautifully played!! The most impressive thing about JBD is that he has no sheet music in front of him! He is effectively playing an Orchestra from memory!
To me, personally, the most impressive thing is actually reading in real time, a vista. Memorizing I can understand. You practice, practice, solve the technical issues, repeat separate parts over and over, until they become second nature, and eventually you put the entire piece together. It can take a month or several months, assuming you have the technique and the knowledge of the scales and chords already. I can understand all these. But actually playing it a vista without looking at the keyboards, that's the highest skill level in my mind. And I've seen people who can do it, no problem. But then they wonder how I can play things from memory. To me, playing from memory is natural, because I can't read fast enough.
Jean Baptiste Dupont is one of the best organists i ever Had the pleasure to hear and See him Play. Just remind to sit in the Cologne cathedral and Simeone is playing THIS. The deep notes would be Like Thunder rolling, the high notes Like birds singing... Everything in between is Just pure joy
Very entertaining video. So enjoyable to see someone newly discover an excellent performer, playing an impressive work of the absolute master of organ composition, on a truly 'gutsy' organ. Well done, guys!
You know what's funny? A lot of Bach historians think this was not composed by him. It isn't fully proven either way, but a big argument is, that compositionally the piece is too simplistic for Bach. Can you imagine that? Though I read nowadays most people think it was him, but it's just a very early work, hence the simplicity. There is a reason why Bach is considered by many to be the greatest composer AND musician of all time! Hope you guys explore more classical stuff, it's always fun to see people without much knowledge react to it. Maybe some Beethoven?^^
The most fascinating argument is the one that assumes that this is actually a transcription of piece that Bach initially wrote for Violin solo and that was lost and only the Organ version survived.
Too simple? Let me introduce you to the Prelude in C Major. Just because something is simple does not mean it isn't an example of greatness by the master!
@@AethonZerus prelude in c major isn't simple harmonically, just cause it's easy doesn't mean it's simple. Also to the original poster I have no proof but it's always been my feeling that the tocatta wasn't by bach but the fugue was.
@@Me-uv6kc Relative to the heavily contrapuntal music Bach typically writes, the Prelude in C Major is extraordinarily simple from a harmonic perspective. Almost every measure in the whole piece features a single chord, which comprises the entirety of notes in the measure. It's hard to get more harmonically simple than that. Now in terms of the Toccata in D minor, what I see is a simplicity by design that mirrors Bach's approach in most of his other toccatas. If anything, a more complex example like the Dorian represents an outlier. Typically, things like toccatas and preludes are intended to be simple on purpose, as a sort of warmup for the complexity and depth of the fugue to follow. The idea that Bach would never write something simple is absurd.
The theory that it was originally for violin makes a lot of sense. People think that because it's very comfortable to play on the violin and some of the passages are very typical for Baroque violin music. There are some recordings by violinists and it really does sound nice.
My reaction: blown away. The organist was splendid 10/10. Bach is a freaking beast of a composer. Shaking grounds and souls. Love it
Man! I love that you guys really sit down and listen to this piece without any interruption, with what seems to be a full focus, Thank you! . This might be some of the most played, most common piece of organ music ever played, still this piece is so unique and a genius composition that is unmatched by any other Organ composition. Especially the Fugue is so beautiful. Bach is for me the king of classical composers and I am very proud to play this instrument myself
Bach. Peerless and untouchable. The greatest composer of them all.