WTF Bach
By Evan Shinners
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Category: Music Commentary
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Subscribers: 25
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Episodes: 162
Description
J.S. Bach explained: Music analysis, Baroque history, counterpoint and performance practice. A classical music podcast for listeners who want to understand what they're hearing. Weekly history, Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, St. Matthew Passion, The Art of Fugue, Cello Suites, and more. Classical music education for all levels!
wtfbach.substack.com
wtfbach.substack.com
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
|
(Rant) ‘More Than Food.’
|
Oct 19, 2026 |
|
151: New Album! (& New Sonic Experience?)
|
Oct 13, 2026 |
|
150: The Early Cantatas, All Summed Up.
|
Oct 06, 2026 |
|
149: The Battle Between Life and Death
|
Sep 24, 2026 |
|
148: Ballooning! (Flying in the 18th Century)
|
Sep 15, 2026 |
|
147: Is This Cantata Even By Bach?
|
Sep 08, 2026 |
|
146: Toccata’s Twin! Double Fugue in F
|
Sep 01, 2026 |
|
145: Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196
|
Aug 25, 2026 |
|
144: Why (And How) I Became An Organist
|
Aug 18, 2026 |
|
143: Special Guest, Emma Smith (University of Oxford)
|
Aug 11, 2026 |
|
142: Monster Toccata in F, BWV 540
|
Aug 04, 2026 |
|
Classical Music ...Robots.
|
Jul 21, 2026 |
|
141: Bach's Orchestral Debut
|
Jul 16, 2026 |
|
140a: Passacaglia Supplement
|
Jul 10, 2026 |
|
140: PASSACALIA
|
Jul 07, 2026 |
|
139: Bach's Second (or Third) Cantata
|
Jun 30, 2026 |
|
138: Bach's Very First Cantata
|
Jun 23, 2026 |
|
A Classical Musician's Thoughts at a Party
|
Jun 16, 2026 |
|
137: Special Guest! Peter Wollny
|
Jun 09, 2026 |
|
136: Bach's 12-Tone Fugue (WTC Finale!)
|
May 28, 2026 |
|
135: H Major! The Final Major (And Tuning It...)
|
May 20, 2026 |
|
134: 5 Flats, 5 Voices: Bach in B-flat Minor
|
May 12, 2026 |
|
133: ¿Por qué César Vallejo?
|
May 05, 2026 |
|
132: The Other Bach Piece You Probably Played
|
Apr 28, 2026 |
|
131: Dissecting The Dragon, A Minor Book 1
|
Apr 21, 2026 |
|
130: A Double Fugue & A Second Manuscript
|
Apr 14, 2026 |
|
129: I Got Rid Of All My Books (11 Years Ago...)
|
Apr 07, 2026 |
|
128: Donald Francis Tovey's Well-Tempered
|
Mar 24, 2026 |
|
Bach's Birthday is NOT March 31st.
|
Mar 21, 2026 |
|
127: How I Memorize Bach (By Ear)
|
Mar 17, 2026 |
|
126: What The Instrument Tells You About The Music
|
Mar 10, 2026 |
|
125: What Is An Ornament?
|
Mar 03, 2026 |
|
(5 Min. Rant) Customer Support Hero
|
Feb 24, 2026 |
|
124: Joy is G Major. Book One.
|
Feb 17, 2026 |
|
123: The Negroni & 'Paradise Lost'
|
Feb 10, 2026 |
|
122: Was F-Sharp Minor, Golgotha?
|
Feb 03, 2026 |
|
121: So... What Does 'Well-Tempered' Mean?
|
Jan 27, 2026 |
|
120: A Double Canon (4 Parts from 2 Lines)
|
Jan 19, 2026 |
|
119: Special Guest! Paul Jacobs
|
Jan 15, 2026 |
|
118: How to Practice! (+ Advice for Teens)
|
Jan 08, 2026 |
|
117: I Forgot C Minor! BWV 847
|
Dec 29, 2025 |
|
116: Chromatic Finale Of The First Half, BWV 857
|
Dec 18, 2025 |
|
(5 Min. Rant) How To Twist A Shirt
|
Dec 15, 2025 |
|
115: F Major Prelude & Fugue, BWV 856
|
Dec 08, 2025 |
|
Why You Should Listen To This Podcast (Ars Podcastica)
|
Nov 27, 2025 |
|
Ep. 114: Bach Improvises On His Prelude
|
Nov 24, 2025 |
|
113: New Bach Works (!) Heard TODAY
|
Nov 17, 2025 |
|
(5 min. Rant) Self-Inflationary Language!
|
Nov 13, 2025 |
|
112: E-flat or D-sharp minor?
|
Nov 08, 2025 |
|
111: The Blind Organist's Improvisations and Registrations
|
Oct 30, 2025 |
|
110: Bach Put A Fugue Inside A Prelude?
|
Oct 22, 2025 |
|
109: 'The Swimmer' by John Cheever
|
Oct 14, 2025 |
|
108: Bach's D Minor Prelude and Fugue, Book One
|
Oct 08, 2025 |
|
107: D Major Fugue, To Dot... or Not?
|
Sep 30, 2025 |
|
(6 Min. Rant) Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth
|
Sep 24, 2025 |
|
106: What is Bach's 'Musical Offering?'
|
Sep 18, 2025 |
|
105: Isak Dinesen, 'The Immortal Story'
|
Sep 05, 2025 |
|
104: Bach (Almost) Spells His Name in a 5-Voice Triple Fugue
|
Aug 28, 2025 |
|
103: The 'Covid Etude' Moral + Tureck’s Hallucination (11 min.)
|
Aug 19, 2025 |
|
102: Bach's Most Famous Prelude (& Fugue...) BWV 846
|
Aug 05, 2025 |
|
Ep. 101: The Well-Tempered Clavier! Analysis, History, Revisions
|
Jul 25, 2025 |
|
(4 Min. Rant) Literally Can't Thank You Enough in Advance
|
Jul 11, 2025 |
|
100th Episode! Special Guest: Ton Koopman
|
Jun 27, 2025 |
|
Ep. 99: NEW ALBUM - Partitas 1-3
|
Jun 13, 2025 |
|
98: Borges, Bach, Barthelme.
|
May 30, 2025 |
|
97: Bach as A Minor in a minor.
|
May 21, 2025 |
|
96: Alleluia! Bach's Jubilant Ululation.
|
May 01, 2025 |
|
95: Bach’s St. John Passion, Which Version?
|
Apr 18, 2025 |
|
94: Baroque Keyboardists Weren’t Specialists—They Played Everything
|
Mar 27, 2025 |
|
93: The 'Actus Tragicus' BWV 106
|
Mar 13, 2025 |
|
92: Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis. An Audiobook.
|
Mar 04, 2025 |
|
91: MiniSeries (10/10!) The Final Episode
|
Feb 18, 2025 |
|
90: MiniSeries (9/10) Revisions Part Two
|
Feb 11, 2025 |
|
89: MiniSeries (8/10) A Bachian Fractal
|
Feb 05, 2025 |
|
88: MiniSeries (7/10) Canon at MOVING Intervals
|
Jan 29, 2025 |
|
87: MiniSeries (6/10) A Sloth Canon
|
Jan 21, 2025 |
|
86: MiniSeries (5/10) Canonic Revisions Part One
|
Jan 03, 2025 |
|
85: MiniSeries (4/10) Feet & LH, a 7th Apart
|
Dec 27, 2024 |
|
Is Pachelbel's Canon Really a Canon?
|
Dec 20, 2024 |
|
84: MiniSeries (3/10) A Canon At The Fifth
|
Dec 17, 2024 |
|
83: MiniSeries (2/10) Divine Row Row Row Your Boat
|
Dec 07, 2024 |
|
82: New MiniSeries! Bach's Christmas Puzzles
|
Nov 28, 2024 |
|
81: Bach Whips Out His Dagger.
|
Nov 18, 2024 |
|
80: The Urtext Illusion: Textual Variance in Bach's "Aria Variata" BWV 989
|
Oct 31, 2024 |
|
79: Passion Music for His Son. F Minor Sinfonia, BWV 795
|
Oct 09, 2024 |
|
78: Fantasy & Fugue in C minor BWV 537
|
Sep 25, 2024 |
|
77: Anyone Else Getting Married?
|
Sep 08, 2024 |
|
76: The 3rd Keyboard Partita (A Crucial Revision)
|
Aug 12, 2024 |
|
75: Performer's Commentary, Vol. 3
|
Aug 04, 2024 |
|
74: ‘No One Ever Erected a Statue to a Critic’ (Bach vs. Scheibe)
|
Jul 26, 2024 |
|
73: ‘Mi Fa, et Fa Mi est tota musica’ (BWV 1078)
|
Jul 07, 2024 |
|
71: Performer's Commentary, Vol. 2
|
Jun 26, 2024 |
|
70: Bach's Puzzle Canons (Yes, Please.)
|
Jun 09, 2024 |
|
69: Performer's Commentary, Vol. 1
|
May 26, 2024 |
|
68: What Did Bach's Business Card Sound Like?
|
May 12, 2024 |
|
67: Doubles at the same time as their simples. (Three Albums on Presale Today!)
|
Apr 24, 2024 |
|
66: Du Hirte Israel, höre. BWV 104,
|
Apr 10, 2024 |
|
65: The Neumeister Chorales (Bach at 15 yrs. old)
|
Mar 06, 2024 |
|
64: Introducing, The Flute!
|
Feb 24, 2024 |
|
63: Two More Cantatas (1724, Part 3)
|
Feb 14, 2024 |
|
62: 2024, An Important Bach Year (Part Two)
|
Jan 20, 2024 |
|
2 minutes: P.D.Q. R.I.P.
|
Jan 18, 2024 |
|
61: Why Is 2024 An Important Bach Year?
|
Jan 06, 2024 |
|
60: My Mini Concert for You
|
Dec 24, 2023 |
|
59: The First Double Fugue in History
|
Dec 15, 2023 |
|
58: I Play Bach's Table of Ornaments
|
Dec 03, 2023 |
|
57: Bach and the Golden Ratio.
|
Nov 08, 2023 |
|
56: Bach's Most Joyful Piece? (Chorale Preludes x2)
|
Oct 25, 2023 |
|
55: Introducing The Chorale! Chorale Preludes, Four-Part Chorales, &c.
|
Oct 01, 2023 |
|
54: The Crab Canon Isn’t a Möbius Strip.
|
Jul 26, 2023 |
|
53: Special Guest: Joshua Rifkin. One Voice Per Part
|
Jul 11, 2023 |
|
52: Casals, Rostropovich... più allegro
|
Jun 22, 2023 |
|
50th Episode! A LIVE Lecture Sponsored by Tonebase
|
Jun 08, 2023 |
|
51: The (Other) Goldberg Canons BWV 1087
|
May 02, 2023 |
|
49: What is Chromaticism? (Albinoni Fugues)
|
Apr 19, 2023 |
|
48: The (Other) Goldberg Canons BWV 1087
|
Mar 14, 2023 |
|
47: An Encyclopedia and a Fugue
|
Feb 25, 2023 |
|
46: What’s a Pythagorean Comma? (Introduction to Temperament)
|
Dec 18, 2022 |
|
54: The Prelude in C, BWV846 (à la WTF)
|
Nov 20, 2022 |
|
44: What is Bach’s ‘Longest’ Piece?
|
Nov 06, 2022 |
|
43: Cantata 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
|
Oct 23, 2022 |
|
42: Listener’s Choice, You asked, I talked.
|
Oct 10, 2022 |
|
41: What Was the Only Non-British Music at the Queen’s Funeral?
|
Sep 20, 2022 |
|
40: What Did Bach Have for Dinner May 3, 1716?
|
Sep 04, 2022 |
|
39: Four Chances to Hear Bach Differently
|
Aug 07, 2022 |
|
38: Can Computers Teach Us About Bach?
|
Jul 24, 2022 |
|
37: The Brandenburg Fifth, BWV 1050
|
Jul 10, 2022 |
|
36: Did Bach Compose the 6th Brandenburg to Get Fired? (Nope.)
|
Jun 26, 2022 |
|
35: The Brandenburg Fifth: A New Way of Hearing
|
Jun 12, 2022 |
|
¡ SEASON TWO !
|
Mar 21, 2022 |
|
That‘s a Wrap on The Art of Fugue. (Season one finale 2/2!)
|
Dec 06, 2021 |
|
The 14th Fugue in The Art of Fugue. (Season one finale 1/2!)
|
Nov 19, 2021 |
|
Special Guest: Christoph Wolff. What else can we learn about Bach?
|
Oct 25, 2021 |
|
Bonus: Dictated in Blindness on his Deathbed? The Original Printed Conclusion to The Art of Fugue?
|
Oct 21, 2021 |
|
The Fourth Canon in The Art of Fugue: Upside Down, Slowed Down... How Much More Down?
|
Sep 30, 2021 |
|
Bonus: The 13th Contrapunctus - in another way (for TWO harpsichords!)
|
Jul 26, 2021 |
|
The 13th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: also fugue this mirror a is?
|
Jun 21, 2021 |
|
Special Guest: Chris Thile. Man in the Mirror (Fugue)
|
Jun 02, 2021 |
|
The 12th Fugue in The Art of Fugue|euguF fo trA ehT ni euguF ht21 ehT?
|
May 18, 2021 |
|
The Third Canon in The Art of Fugue: Counterpoint at the fifth? Or just a bunch of parallel fifths?
|
Mar 15, 2021 |
|
Bonus: I Uploaded a Bach Album as an NFT
|
Mar 08, 2021 |
|
The 11th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: A Triple Fugue &... A Possible Anti-Golden-Section?
|
Feb 19, 2021 |
|
The Tenth Fugue at the Tenth: Also... What is a Key?
|
Jan 26, 2021 |
|
The 9th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Two Subjects Combined at Two Intervals... Too much?
|
Oct 26, 2020 |
|
Special Guest: Jack Stratton (Vulfpeck). Down in a big way... with Bach?
|
Sep 25, 2020 |
|
The 8th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Three Themes, Three voices.
|
Sep 08, 2020 |
|
How To Detect Bach B.S. (Bad Scholarship)
|
Aug 17, 2020 |
|
Bonus: A Bach Article from 1985
|
Aug 02, 2020 |
|
Bonus: Listener’s Choice: You asked, I talked.
|
Jul 24, 2020 |
|
The Second Canon in The Art of Fugue: A canon functioning at two simultaneous intervals!?
|
Jul 03, 2020 |
|
The 7th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: One theme at three different speeds?
|
Jun 20, 2020 |
|
Special Guest: Robert Hill. How does he play Bach?
|
Jun 15, 2020 |
|
The 6th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: ’In Stylo Francese’
|
May 29, 2020 |
|
The 5th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Our theme finally overlaps itself!
|
May 21, 2020 |
|
Special Guest: Brad Mehldau. Why does he like Bach?
|
May 14, 2020 |
|
The First Canon in The Art of Fugue: Where do these pieces belong, and how do they get much more complicated than this?!
|
Apr 28, 2020 |
|
Bonus: Bach in Revision. How does Bach improve upon himself?
|
Apr 17, 2020 |
|
The 4th Fugue in The Art of Fugue: Where is the golden section? Exchanging the Dux and the Comes
|
Apr 05, 2020 |
|
The 2nd/3rd Fugues in The Art of Fugue: What is a Clavichord? Our first countersubject!
|
Mar 22, 2020 |
|
Bonus: Contrapunctus I: all screwed up... 11x
|
Mar 15, 2020 |
|
The First Fugue in The Art of Fugue: What is a Harpsichord? Eleven entrances?
|
Mar 11, 2020 |
|
What Is A Fugue? Who Was J.S. Bach?
|
Mar 01, 2020 |