The Toccatas for Keyboard,
BWV 910–916, are seven pieces for
clavier written by
Johann Sebastian Bach. Although the pieces were not originally organized into a collection by Bach himself (as were most of his other keyboard works, such as the
Well Tempered Clavier and the
English Suites), the pieces share many similarities, and are frequently grouped and performed together under a collective title.[1]
History
The toccatas represent Bach's earliest keyboard compositions known under a collective title.[1] The earliest sources of the BWV 910, 911 and 916 toccatas appear in the
Andreas-Bach Book,[2] an important collection of keyboard and organ manuscripts of various composers compiled by Bach's oldest brother,
Johann Christoph Bach between 1707 and 1713. An early version of the BWV 912 (known as the BWV 912a) also exists in another collection compiled by Johann Christoph Bach known as the "
Möller manuscript", from around 1703 to 1707.[3] This indicates that most of these works originated no later than Bach's early Weimar years, though the early
northern-German style indicates possible
Arnstadt origin.
Though the specific instrumentation is not given for any of the works, they are all strictly
manualiter, as none of them call for
pedal parts.[1] Like Bach's other clavier works, these toccatas are frequently performed on the
piano. Because of some of the
organ-like textures, the pieces are sometimes performed on the organ.[6] In fact, the opening
motifs of the BWV 912, 914 and 916 toccatas resemble the ones on the
BWV 532,[7] 534[8] and 541[9] organ preludes respectively.