Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, S.529

Introduction

Franz Liszt composed his Fantasy and Fugue on the B-A-C-H theme in 1855, and revised it in 1870. This piece, written for organ, is catalogued as S. 260i and S. 260ii (the original version and the 1870 revision respectively). The piece was premiered in 1856 by its dedicatée, Alexander Winterberger, and published shortly after. The second version was published around 1872. Some time later, Liszt wrote a piano arrangement of the piece, now catalogued as S. 529, which becamewidely known. The original organ work is a now repertoire piece. Franz Liszt continued the trend of using the B-A-C-H motive (although clearly not in a baroque language), which was inmensely popular during the Bach revival of the first half of the 19th century.