Two lovely unknown works by Johann Sebastian Bach have been recently confirmed and published: Chaconne and Fugue in D minor (BWV 1178) and Chaconne in G minor (BWV 1179) — very cool! The musical style is definitely him, experts agree, with strong lines of good counterpoint in depth approaching genius. Written at age 18, before he went to Weimar for his first important position. Here we compare them to his other, later works which use similar forms. All are great music by a master, beautifully crafted.
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A word about Bach and his 'BWV numbers': they don't reflect chronology of writing, only of Genre and publication. Since these are relatively recent publications they have high BWV numbers, even though he wrote them at around age 18. BWV is a German abbreviation (Bach Werke Verzeichnis) for the Bach Works Catalogue. Each verified composition has its own unique BWV No.
A Chaconne or Passacaglia is a piece using a repeating bass line with contrasting chords and note values, not unlike Pachelbel's Canon. The interesting part is to see what skill the composer applies to the concept. These early works are quite good. Bach's later ones are brilliant.
Discovered in 1992, the manuscripts were only recently authenticated as Bach’s own compositions, and first performed in November 2025, for the 1st time in 300 years! The last piece of evidence was just published by Peter Wollny, Director of the Bach Archive at Leipzig where JSB was Kapellmeister. Musicologists and composers all agree they show distinct traces of his style and particular genius: Bold, chromatic chord progressions anchored by excellent voice-leading. Here is the slightly larger work, Chaconne and Fugue in D Minor BWV 1178:
The Fugue begins at about 3:00, chromatic and in 4 parts. The performer here adds ornaments to the Fugal Subject, as expected in Baroque Style, and they reappear consistently with the Subject. The Chaconne reprises after the Fugue. The whole composition is remarkable, in the depth of the chord progressions and excellence of the counterpoint. This is the preamble to greatness.
The structure is not unlike his later, greater Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor BWV 582 (a Passacaille is like a Chaconne, to give them their French spellings - a series of variations over a ground bass figure and/or chord progression). Bach's innovation in both his early and later Chaconnes is he makes the ground bass melody part of the Invertible Counterpoint, in other words it can appear in the the alto, soprano or tenor parts not just the bass. And just to reinforce this display of contrapuntal skill, he then develops the melody as a full-blown Fugue in all the parts (starts below at 8:28). Here’s a very lovely transcription of the C Minor for orchestra by Leopold Stokowski. The beginning is quiet, the better to hear the parts:
The Fugue is otherworldly, you feel yourself floating among the stars, and it's a darn difficult movement to perform and get all the independent parts right (it's a quite complex Double Fugue - two subjects, the Passacaglia Theme and a new 8th-note theme). If done right the effect is celestial.
Also newly discovered, the Chaconne in G Minor BWV 1179 — a wonderful piece of work in the variations, which also pre-echo passages of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor:
Again, good chord progressions which evolve in variations of solid and beautiful counterpoint. This just begs to have a fugue written on the subject!
Bach wrote this lovely Ciaccona in B Minor as a finale for his Cantata BWV 150, also a youthful work but written about ten years later than the newly discovered Chaconnes. The Cantata in B Minor BWV 150 is from Bach’s Weimar Period (about the same time the above portrait was done):
Highly sophisticated counterpoint and vocal polyphony (the Bass Line of the Chaconne is on the bottom, the 4 voices and string parts are on top in this graphical depiction). Like the painting, this is definitely Bach at Weimar, where he became Konzertmeister at the Ducal Court through sheer ability, after starting as a rather menial Court musician, one of many. His reputation as an organ virtuoso spread throughout Germany during this period. He was a seriously dedicated young artist, walking over 400 miles to hear the great Buxtehude play, and to take lessons from the older man’s friend Johann Reincken, an influential counterpoint teacher. After watching him improvise on the organ, including full-blown fugal movements, Reincken famously told Bach, “I thought this art was dead, but I see it lives on in you.”
Above for your listening pleasure is his complete Cantata in B Minor, BWV 150 with the Chaconne at the end. We present it scrolling with vocal and instrumental parts separated, so you can see it's fully Invertible 8-part counterpoint - the instruments do not double the voices, they are all independent parts! The choruses are fugal movements joined by the strings and woodwinds (‘Fagotto’ here written on the top, but you hear them further down, middle registers. The top melodies you hear are the Soprano and the Violins, and both Bass and Basso Continuo are on the bottom). After the opening, there's a chromatic fugue in the first Chorus (in all 8 parts, not just the voices), then a remarkable double fugue, followed by a reprise. All the movements are quite beautiful. Bach wrote hundreds of Cantatas during his career; in Leipzig, a new one for every Sunday. Now that's a Protestant work ethic! He was not only Kantor at St Thomas but Music Director for the city, and Kapellmeister to the King of Saxony.
Finally, written at the end of his career (Leipzig Period), here is his amazing Chaconne in D Minor for Solo Violin (last movement of the Partita for Violin BWV 1004). The entire movement is foreshadowed in those first 4 impassioned chords, which progress relentlessly through every imaginable contrapuntal variation, played brilliantly here by our own Joshua Bell, Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin In The Fields and possibly our finest violinist besides Perlman:
One of the most incredible pieces ever written by anyone, anytime, anywhere — as Brahms said so eloquently, calling it a "whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings written for a small instrument," and saying the excess of its profundity would have driven him mad had he conceived it himself.
Brahms was a master of counterpoint of the 19th century, as Bach was of the 18th, so this is no mere hyperbole. It's the sincere tribute of one genius for another.
”Only the praise of one who has known praise can give pleasure.”
- Ludwig Van Beethoven
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