Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue

The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (BWV 903), one of Bach’s best known works, is an extravagant work of virtuosity and bold harmonic structure. It is an extraordinary piece - large, sprawling, emotional, and unique in its character compared to the rest of Bach's music.  The title of the piece comes from either the fugue’s chromatic melody, or from the startling modulations in the Fantasia. Either opinion is equally acceptable and debated.

Bach composed only a few “fantasies” – a type of prelude usually preceding a fugue. The fantasy is highly virtuosic and similar in form to the toccata, English fantasy, and the canzone, in that it consists of alternating sections of differently textured music. The English fantasy differs from Bach’s fantasies because it does not contain any free, improvisational sections. And unlike the Italian canzone, Bach’s chromatic fantasy does not include sections of imitative counterpoint. The intended instrument for the Chromatic Fantasy is the harpsichord as shown by the extensive use of arpeggio writing, and specifically noted in the heading of one of the earliest copies, Fantasie chromatique pour le Clavecin.

The Chromatic Fantasy consists of three main sections: the first being a true prelude, the second a recitative-like section, and the third a mixture of the two. Some scholars, however, categorize the extensive arpeggio part preceding the recitative as a separate section in itself. The first section (mm. 1-48) consists of technically demanding toccata-like passagework. Conversely, the recitative that follows (mm. 49-60) is musically challenging, requiring extreme emotional sensitivity. And the third section (mm. 61- 79) combines the two elements in a virtuosic drive to the end.

In terms of the harmonic structure of the piece, section one moves from tonic to dominant, the second extends the dominant, and the third returns to tonic with a full authentic ending cadence. While it might be easy to lose a sense of main tonality amidst the recitative-like passage work, Bach continually circles around the dominant during the first section and artfully establishes tonality despite a multitude of runs, passages, and arpeggios. To the listener it might seem that the fantasy is entirely chromatic and even atonal, but Bach maintains tonality with the use of conventional cadences and finally, a fixed tonic pedal in the last section that brings together this grand introduction to the fugue.

The fugue begins in a strict style but gradually loosens, revealing elements of the fantasy. It opens with a long and complex semitonal subject. The fugue has three sections with eleven entrances of the fugal theme. Every entry of the theme contains an element of uncertainty, yet each seems to be anticipated by the previous one. The first section stays mostly in d minor, while the second section modulates as the theme is introduced in distantly related keys. The third section again returns to d minor and ends with bravura passage work, scales, and “organistic” octave doubling in the bass, not unlike the closing of a toccata. Compared to the fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier, this fugue is treated much more freely.

The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue is believed to have been composed in the 1720s in Weimar. Bach’s autograph has been lost, so published editions are based on copyists’ manuscripts, with differences posing editorial problems. Several manuscripts are believed to have been in concurrent use in Bach’s home, each with varying modifications. There is another version of the Fantasy labeled BWV 903a. This was the lost manuscript dated “Bernburg 1757” and is considered the earliest form of the work. This version replaces the first twenty measures of the original fantasy with 23 completely different measures.

Musicians must be extremely cautious in their selection of which edition of a work to use. The goal should be to find an edition that reveals, as closely as possible, the composer’s true intentions. I reviewed several different editions of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue and my findings are as follows: The Bach-Gesellschaft – reprinted by Dover - provides alternate versions when there are discrepancies between different manuscripts. The Henle edition follows the copy prepared by Agricola in 1740, possibly under Bach’s actual supervision. It is an urtext version, but provides editorial fingering in italics. It also includes the early BWV 903a version at the end. The Schirmer edition does not specifically denote a certain manuscript as its source, only that it is “correct and critically revised”. The editor takes many liberties to include fingerings, rhythmic phrasing, and interpretive indications (i.e. tempo, dynamics, accents, pedaling, etc.) in order to “initiate the player into the spirit of the work”. The Kalmus edition (edited by Bischoff) is based on a manuscript belonging to the Berlin Royal Library, bearing the date, Dec. 6, 1730, which is the oldest version only after the BWV 903a. However, the editor also includes in the score variants from different manuscripts. Interpretive markings are included, as well an appendix on the execution of the arpeggiated chords in the fantasy.