Fugue in G Minor, “Little Fugue” BWV 578

Johann Sebastian Bach / arr. Lucien Cailliet

Fugue in G Minor BWV 578, is known as the “Little Fugue” to distinguish it from the much longer and later "Great" G minor Fantasia and Fugue (BWV 542). It is preceded by Bach’s "Fervent is My Longing" as if two movements of a single suite. This transcription is by accomplished arranger and former Kenoshan Lucien Cailliet. Bach composed the Little Fugue sometime around 1709 when he was a young up-and-coming organist in the city of Arnstadt.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was an influential German musician and composer of the Baroque period. He was the most significant of numerous Bach family musicians. He is known for instrumental compositions and vocal music.

Johann Sebastian Bach was the eighth and last child of a city musician in Eisenach, Germany. Orphaned at age 10, he pursued a musical career from an early age. He worked as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer stretches of time, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and at Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. He was employed as a cantor in Leipzig and composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city. He was granted the title of court composer by his sovereign, Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in 1736.

Bach led a busy life. He composed over a thousand pieces in all, including cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, cello, flute, chamber ensemble and orchestra. Married twice, he fathered 20 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.

Last updated on December 4, 2019 by Palatine Concert Band