Early editors of Bach's work attached the title of "Little Fugue" to distinguish it from the later
Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, which is longer in duration and more challenging to play.
Score
The fugue's four-and-a-half
measuresubject in
G minor is one of Bach's most recognizable tunes. The fugue is in four voices. During the episodes, Bach uses one of
Arcangelo Corelli's most famous techniques: imitation between two voices on an
eighth noteupbeat figure that first leaps up a
fourth and then falls back down one
step at a time.[2]
In other music
Swedish
heavy metal band
Sabaton uses the beginning of the piece in the song "The Red Baron" from their album
The Great War. The piece is transposed to C minor, and the first voice is lowered an octave relative to the second voice. The
Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps also included sections of the piece in the opener of their 2017 program "It Is".