Bach - Passacaglia in C minor BWV 582 - Smits | Netherlands Bach Society

In the Passacaglia in C minor, performed here by Reitze Smits for All of Bach, Bach&genius is as clear as day. As a variation work, it surpasses anything Bach could have heard in his younger years. The ostinato, the repetitive bass line that forms the foundation of a passacaglia, is made up of eight bars, rather than the usual four. The work consists of twenty variations, rather than the usual five or six. And on top of its initial function, the bass line is then split up and treated as two separate themes that, accompanied by a third theme, form the material for an ingenious fugue. This recording was made with support of Andrew S. Lim, United States. Reitze Smits, organ Instrument: Johann Heinrich Hartmann Bätz, 1762