View source for Fugue in G minor, BWV 578

{{Short description|Organ composition by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{distinguish|Fugue in G minor, BWV 131a|Fugue in G minor, BWV 1000}}
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Bach's "Little" Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578 - Huffman Winds - United States Air Force Band of Flight.mp3|title=Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 (3:48)}}
'''Fugue in G minor''', [[Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis|BWV]] 578, (popularly known as the ''Little Fugue''), is a piece of [[organ music]] written by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] during his years at [[Arnstadt]] (1703–1707). It is one of Bach's best known [[fugue]]s and has been [[Arrangement|arranged]] for other voices, including an orchestral version by [[Leopold Stokowski]].<ref>[[Kimberly Marshall]], "Bach on the organ", ''[[Early Music (journal)|Early Music]]'' (2008) 36 (4): 661–664. {{doi|10.1093/em/can100}}</ref>
Early editors of Bach's work attached the title of "Little Fugue" to distinguish it from the later [[Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542]], which is longer in duration and more challenging to play.
==Score==
[[File:BWV 578 Incipit.png|thumb|350px|alt=The fugue's theme (or subject), presented in musical notation of its first 4 1/2 bars|Theme]]
The fugue's four-and-a-half [[Bar (music)|measure]] [[Subject (music)|subject]] in [[G minor]] is one of Bach's most recognizable tunes. The fugue is in four voices. During the episodes, Bach uses one of [[Arcangelo Corelli]]'s most famous techniques: imitation between two voices on an [[eighth note]] [[Beat (music)#Upbeat|upbeat]] figure that first leaps up a [[Perfect fourth|fourth]] and then falls back down one [[Steps and skips|step]] at a time.<ref>{{ill|Klemens Schnorr|de|lt=Schnorr, K.}} (2001). "Litanei und Ostinato in Bachs Passacaglia c-moll BWV 582." ''Anuario Musical'', 0(56): 163–172, p. 167</ref>
==In other music==
Swedish [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band [[Sabaton (band)|Sabaton]] uses the beginning of the piece in the song "The Red Baron" from their album [[The Great War (Sabaton album)|''The Great War'']].  The piece is transposed to C minor, and the first voice is lowered an octave relative to the second voice. The [[Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps]] also included sections of the piece in the opener of their 2017 program "It Is".
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMSLP|work=Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)|cname=Fugue in G minor, BWV 578}}
* [http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/detail.php?ID=BWV0578 Free download of BWV 578], recorded by [[James Kibbie]] on the 1755 [[Gottfried Silbermann]]/[[Zacharias Hildebrandt]] organ in the [[Katholische Hofkirche]], Dresden, Germany
{{Organ compositions and contrapuntal works by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
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[[Category:Fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach|G minor]]
[[Category:Compositions for organ]]
[[Category:Compositions in G minor]]