Johann Ludwig Krebs, Präludium und Fuge, d moll (Krebswv 405)

It is well known that Johann Sebastian Bach considered Johann Ludwig Krebs as his most talented student. To Krebs Bach was undoubtedly a great source of inspiration. Many of Krebs’s large scale organ works clearly use the works of Bach as a model. The inspiration for Krebs’s Prelude and fugue in d minor is however not so obvious. It is one of the longest organ works by Krebs. Too long, some will say. The prelude takes roughly 10 minutes, the fugue almost 16 minutes. Both the prelude and the fugue have a clear structure, that propels the music forward. The prelude consists of three episodes, with tonal centers of d minor, a minor and again d minor, linked by pedal solos. The fugue consists of three separated fugues, that are thematically closely linked. The theme of the first fugue acts as the second theme in both others fugues. The theme of the third fugue is the inversion of the theme of the first fugue. The thematic relations hold the music together, despite its length. Krebs was in this work clearly inspired by the music of Bach. It is also evident in this work that Krebs learned really a lot from Bach. It is an impressive, well written work that is immensely satisfying to learn and to play.

The recording was done on the sample set of the Müller-organ in the Sint Bavokerk in Haarlem by Voxus Organs for Hauptwerk.

Score
Krebs, Präludium und Fuge, d moll, (KrebsWV 405)

To facilitate practising this piece, a score with carefull fingering and pedalling is also available (though it is not free)

Performance

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