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Johann Sebastian Bach 's music has often been
transcribed for other instruments.
Bach's lifetime Bach himself was an inveterate transcriber of his works for other musical forces. For example:
Classical era Romantic era
Ferruccio Busoni made a piano transcription of the chaconne from the
Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor , as did
Johannes Brahms and others. For more Bach transcriptions by Busoni, see:
Charles Gounod 's
Ave Maria is based on Prelude No. 1 of Book I of
The Well-Tempered Clavier .
Francisco Tárrega transcribed a variety of Bach works, including his
Fugue from
Violin Sonata No. 1 , BWV 1001
Franz Liszt arranged
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 ,
Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 ,
Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 545 ,
Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546 ,
Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547 ,
Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 ,
Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 , and Movement 2 of
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (also the same as the
Crucifixus Mass in B minor BWV 232) for piano, and Movement 3 of the
Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV 1017 , the same music mentioned above from
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 , the Introduction and Fugue from
Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 , and the Andante from
Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38 for Organ or Harmonium.
Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) produced "Six Little Pieces after sketches by J. S. Bach" (1890) for piano solo. 20th century
Arranged for
alto saxophone , performed by David Hernando Vitores (1:49)
Harrison Birtwistle arranged a number of Bach organ works as Bach Measures, for chamber orchestra (1996)
Edward Elgar transcribed Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537 for orchestra
Sergei Rachmaninoff made a transcription of the Violin Partita in E major, BWV 1006, including the following movements: prelude, gavotte and gigue.
Max Reger and
Walter Morse Rummel both made many transcriptions of Bach works.
Leopold Stokowski made a large number of transcriptions for full orchestra, including the
Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ, which appeared in the film
Fantasia and the
Little Fugue in G minor .
Alexander Siloti made many piano transcriptions of Bach, most famously his
Prelude in B minor based on Bach's
Prelude in E minor, BWV 855a .
Andrés Segovia was famous for his playing arrangements of Bach works transcribed for
classical guitar , such as his very difficult
Chaconne from the
Violin Partita in D minor .
Arnold Schoenberg arranged for orchestra Bach's organ Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major St Anne , BWV 552.
Igor Stravinsky made an arrangement of the
Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her" in 1956.
Igor Stravinsky 's last work was a transcription of Four Preludes and Fugues from
Das Wohltemperirte Clavier
William Walton 's ballet
The Wise Virgins (1940) consists of orchestrations of movements from Bach's cantatas and chorale preludes.
Anton Webern arranged the
ricercar from
The Musical Offering for orchestra.
Marcel Grandjany transcribed movements of the Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin for the harp in his book of Etudes.
The
Modern Jazz Quartet frequently performed compositions of Bach as transcribed for the instruments of their ensemble.
Violinists interested in
historically informed performance , notably
Andrew Manze , have created "anti-transcriptions"; that is, reconstructed hypothetical original versions for violin, of the
Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ.
The
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 , has been arranged by a number of composers.
Jacques Loussier Trio transcribed several Bach's compositions
The Swingle Singers devoted entire albums to transcriptions of Bach's work (
Bach's Greatest Hits and
Back to Bach )
Wendy Carlos transcribed and performed many works by Bach on the
Moog Synthesizer on several albums including
Switched-On Bach issued by
Columbia Masterworks . 21st century
Luciano Berio arranged Bach's Contrapunktus XIX from Die Kunst der Fuge for 23 players (2001). References
