Johann Sebastian Bach's music has often been transcribed for other instruments.

Contents

• Bach's lifetime
• Classical era
• Romantic era
• 20th century
• 21st century
• References

Bach's lifetime

This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

Bach himself was an inveterate transcriber of his works for other musical forces. For example:

• Sonatas and partitas for solo violin, BWV 1001–1006
• Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041
• Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042
• Double Violin Concerto (Bach), BWV 1043
• Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (suspected to be a transcription of a violin original, by Bach himself or another composer).

Classical era

• Working at the behest of Gottfried van Swieten, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart arranged some of the fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier for string quartet (K. 405). ^[1] His K. 404a contains transcriptions for string trio of a few more fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier and of some other works by Bach. ^[2]
• Ludwig van Beethoven arranged Fugue No. 22 in B-flat minor, BWV 867/2, from the Well-Tempered Clavier book 1, for string quintet (Hess 38  [ commons ]). ^[3]

Romantic era

This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

• Ferruccio Busoni made a piano transcription of the chaconne from the Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, as did Johannes Brahms and others. For more Bach transcriptions by Busoni, see:
  • List of adaptations by Ferruccio Busoni#Transcriptions (BV B 20 to 115)
  • Bach-Busoni Editions
• Charles Gounod's Ave Maria is based on Prelude No. 1 of Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier .
• Francisco Tárrega transcribed a variety of Bach works, including his Fugue from Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001
• Franz Liszt arranged Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544, Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 545, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546, Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547, Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548, Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, and Movement 2 of Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (also the same as the Crucifixus from the Mass in B minor BWV 232) for piano, and Movement 3 of the Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV 1017, the same music mentioned above from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 , the Introduction and Fugue from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21, and the Andante from Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38 for Organ or Harmonium.
  • See Franz Liszt's treatments of the works of other composers#Johann Sebastian Bach
• Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) produced "Six Little Pieces after sketches by J. S. Bach" (1890) for piano solo.

20th century

This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

Sonata in G minor BWV 1001 Presto

Arranged for alto saxophone, performed by David Hernando Vitores (1:49)

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

• Harrison Birtwistle arranged a number of Bach organ works as Bach Measures, for chamber orchestra (1996)
• Edward Elgar transcribed Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537 for orchestra
• Sergei Rachmaninoff made a transcription of the Violin Partita in E major, BWV 1006, including the following movements: prelude, gavotte and gigue.
• Max Reger and Walter Morse Rummel both made many transcriptions of Bach works.
• Leopold Stokowski made a large number of transcriptions for full orchestra, including the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ, which appeared in the film Fantasia and the Little Fugue in G minor.
• Alexander Siloti made many piano transcriptions of Bach, most famously his Prelude in B minor based on Bach's Prelude in E minor, BWV 855a.
• Andrés Segovia was famous for his playing arrangements of Bach works transcribed for classical guitar, such as his very difficult Chaconne from the Violin Partita in D minor.
• Arnold Schoenberg arranged for orchestra Bach's organ Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major St Anne, BWV 552.
• Igor Stravinsky made an arrangement of the Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her" in 1956.
• Igor Stravinsky's last work was a transcription of Four Preludes and Fugues from Das Wohltemperirte Clavier
• William Walton's ballet The Wise Virgins (1940) consists of orchestrations of movements from Bach's cantatas and chorale preludes.
• Anton Webern arranged the ricercar from The Musical Offering for orchestra.
• Marcel Grandjany transcribed movements of the Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin for the harp in his book of Etudes.
• The Modern Jazz Quartet frequently performed compositions of Bach as transcribed for the instruments of their ensemble.
• Violinists interested in historically informed performance, notably Andrew Manze, have created "anti-transcriptions"; that is, reconstructed hypothetical original versions for violin, of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ.
• The Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, has been arranged by a number of composers.
• Jacques Loussier Trio transcribed several Bach's compositions
• The Swingle Singers devoted entire albums to transcriptions of Bach's work ( Bach's Greatest Hits and Back to Bach )
• Wendy Carlos transcribed and performed many works by Bach on the Moog Synthesizer on several albums including Switched-On Bach issued by Columbia Masterworks.

21st century

This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )

• Luciano Berio arranged Bach's Contrapunktus XIX from Die Kunst der Fuge for 23 players (2001).

References