Sheet Music: Little Fugue in G minor

TitleLittle Fugue in G minor
Alternate titlesKleine Fuge in G-moll
Opus numberBWV 578
ComposerJohann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
InstrumentationFlute duet
KeyC minor
RangeC4–F6
Time signature4/4
Tempo80 BPM
Performance time3:30
Difficulty leveladvanced
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (112 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (1.7 MB)
Play-along accompanimentMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (1.7 MB)
Date added2009-09-03
Last updated2009-09-03
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 8.6 (very popular)
Categories
Baroque, Fugues

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Thursday 3 September 2009

Tune of the Day: Little Fugue in G minor

by Johann Sebastian Bach, arranged for Flute duet

Let there be no confusion about it: this fugue for organ, BWV 578, is known as the “Little” Fugue not because it is a work of small importance or because it is an unusually short work, but simply so that it and the much longer and later “Great” G minor Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 542, might not be mistaken for one another. Bach probably composed the “Little” G minor Fugue sometime between 1703 and 1707, when he was a young, up-and-coming organist in the city of Arnstadt.

The “Little” G minor's four-and-a-half-measure subject is one of Bach's most widely recognized tunes. During the episodes, Bach employs one of Arcangelo Corelli's most beloved sequential gestures: imitation between two voices on an eighth note upbeat figure that first leaps up a fourth and then falls back down one step at a time.