ABSTRACT
Th e fantasias, sonatas, and other remaining pieces from Bach’s early years probably belonged to a larger collection of eff orts that have mostly failed to survive. Th ese works vary greatly in length and style, and although they now look like a mixed bag of miscellaneous pieces, some of them represent genres that must have seemed well established at the time they were written. For instance, several little fantasias belong to a tradition of short, modestly contrapuntal four-voice preludes cultivated in the circle around Pachelbel. Bach’s transcriptions of ensemble compositions may derive from arrangements that were usually improvised and rarely written down. Yet the diverse titles for these pieces could also refl ect generic ambiguities arising from the youthful composer’s experimentation. BWV 922 has the general shape of a praeludium, that is, a prelude and fugue, yet the ostensibly imitative section lacks a fugue subject of the traditional type and seems more concerned with modulating into remote tonalities through what is essentially a long series of broken chords. Th e one-movement sonata BWV 967 is generically akin to the short instrumental movements (oft en called sonatas) that open contemporary vocal works, including Bach’s early cantatas, yet it is longer and more complex in form and texture than most.
