The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903, is a keyboard work by Johann Sebastian Bach. It consists of a fantasia followed by a three-voice fugue. The work is often dated to Bach's Köthen period (1717–1723), although its surviving sources indicate that it circulated in more than one form and was probably revised after Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723.
The fantasia has a complex source history. It survives in three main versions: the early version BWV 903a or BWV 903.1, an intermediate version now numbered BWV 903.2, and the main version BWV 903 or BWV 903.3. The fugue has a simpler source history and differs only slightly among the surviving sources.
The fantasia is organized through passagework, arpeggiation, chromatic voice leading, and recitative-like writing. Its main sections include an opening passagework section, an arpeggiated and modulatory passage, a recitative, and a coda over a tonic pedal point. The fugue is in three voices and develops a chromatic subject through eleven entries. Although the two movements differ in form, commentators have described continuities between them, especially in chromatic procedure, tonal instability, and keyboard figuration.
The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue was admired by early writers on Bach, became prominent in nineteenth-century Bach performance and editing, and has been transcribed for several instruments.
Sources and versions The surviving sources of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue do not preserve a single fixed version of the fantasia. Hans David attempted to arrange the manuscripts and early prints then known in a source stemma. George B. Stauffer argues that the larger number of known sources makes such a complete reconstruction uncertain. The manuscript dates are also difficult to use as evidence for the work's chronology, since a later copy may preserve an earlier version. Stauffer notes that only a small number of surviving manuscripts appear to have originated during Bach's lifetime, and that the only precisely dated early manuscript of the mature version is the anonymous P 421, dated 6 December 1730.
Stauffer and Uwe Wolf both describe three versions of the fantasia. The first is the early version, BWV 903a; the second is an intermediate version preserved in copies associated with Johann Tobias Krebs the Elder and Samuel Gottlieb Heder; and the third is the main version, first represented by an anonymous manuscript dated 1730. In the third edition of the , these versions are numbered BWV 903.1, BWV 903.2, and BWV 903.3, respectively. The fugue has a simpler source history than the fantasia: it appears to have been largely complete from the beginning, apart from later changes in detail, and differs only slightly among the surviving sources.
+ Principal versions and sources of the fantasia Version BWV number Principal source or witness Date or dating Notes Early version BWV 903a; BWV 903.1 Darmstadt Mus. MS 69; a now-lost copy used for early printed editions Surviving Darmstadt copy dated by watermarks to 1731–1735 First twenty-three bars differ from both later versions; includes the low AA absent from the main version. Intermediate version BWV 903.2 Krebs and Heder copies in Berlin, DSB, P 803 Date uncertain; the Krebs copy may date from Krebs's years of study with Bach Opening reworked into substantially the later form; bars 21–24 differ from the main version. Main version BWV 903; BWV 903.3 Anonymous manuscript P 421; later Agricola copy P 421 dated 6 December 1730; Agricola copy dated in or around 1740 Bars 21–24 combine material from BWV 903a with the revised P 803 version; the Agricola copy is the principal source for the main text in Wolf's edition.
Early version, BWV 903a / BWV 903.1 The early version of the fantasia, BWV 903a or BWV 903.1, is preserved in Darmstadt Mus. MS 69. A now-lost copy also transmitted this version and supplied the version used in the Bach-Gesellschaft edition and other early printed editions. The Darmstadt manuscript itself was copied by an anonymous scribe active at the Darmstadt court. Its watermarks occur in Darmstadt manuscripts dating from March 1731 to January 1735. These dates apply to the surviving copy, not necessarily to the version it preserves.
Stauffer treats BWV 903a as the earliest version of the fantasia. Its first twenty-three bars differ from both later forms of BWV 903. The opening uses continuous triplets from bar 3 to bar 20, where they change into thirty-second notes leading to the cadence at bar 20.
BWV 903a also uses the low note AA at the end of the opening passage. In the main version, Bach omits this note and ends the introductory section four octaves higher. Stauffer argues that the low AA may point to an extended-range keyboard instrument that was available when the early version was composed, but no longer available when Bach revised the fantasia.
Stauffer connects this hypothesis with the extended-range two-manual harpsichord made by Michael Mietke for the Köthen court in 1719. Surviving Mietke harpsichords from Charlottenburg Palace have unusually deep bass ranges, but they do not include the d‴ required by BWV 903a. The Köthen instrument is therefore a possible, but unproved, explanation for the unusual range of the early version.
On the basis of the notation and musical style, Stauffer suggests that BWV 903a originated in Köthen around 1720 and was revised later in Leipzig, perhaps around 1729. Richard D. P. Jones also places the early version in the Köthen period.
Intermediate version, BWV 903.2 The intermediate version, BWV 903.2, is preserved in the Krebs and Heder copies in Berlin, DSB, P 803. In these copies, the opening of the fantasia has been reworked into substantially the form known today. Wolf raises the possibility that the Krebs copy dates from Krebs's years of study with Bach, between 1714 and 1717; Jones, however, treats the date of the intermediate version as uncertain.
The main difference between the intermediate and main versions is the passage corresponding to bars 21–24 of the modern printed score. In P 803, this passage appears as a shorter, two-bar variant. Wolf also identifies the transition after the opening section as the point where the intermediate and main versions differ most clearly.
Main version, BWV 903 / BWV 903.3 The main version, BWV 903 or BWV 903.3, is first represented by the anonymous manuscript P 421, dated 6 December 1730. In this version, bars 21–24 combine material from BWV 903a with the revised P 803 version. Stauffer treats this change as probably Bach's last major revision of the work. The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue was transmitted mainly in this third form in later manuscripts.
A copy made by Bach's pupil Johann Friedrich Agricola, dated in or around 1740, is the principal source for the main version in Wolf's edition. Jones describes the Agricola copy as representing the final version and dates the copy to 1738–1741.
After this revision, the general shape of the fantasia remained stable, but many details continued to vary. Stauffer gives several possible explanations: Bach may have owned more than one autograph with slightly different readings; he may have passed on revisions orally as students copied the work; or later copyists and pupils may have introduced variants. Because few pre-1750 sources survive, Stauffer concludes that these possibilities cannot be securely distinguished.
A further source group is associated with Bach's pupil Johann Christian Kittel. Kittel's manuscript is no longer extant, but its readings are known indirectly through copies made from it and through nineteenth-century accounts.
Structure
The work consists of a fantasia followed by a three-voice fugue. The fantasia is organized through passagework, arpeggiation, chromatic voice leading, and recitative-like writing; the fugue is organized through repeated entries of a chromatic subject and varied episodes. Several commentators treat the fantasia and fugue as different in form while also noting continuities between them, especially in chromatic procedure, tonal instability, and keyboard figuration.
Fantasia Analysts divide the fantasia in related but not identical ways. Heinrich Schenker describes the fantasia as having two principal parts of comparable weight: a prelude-like first part in bars 1–49 and a recitative-like second part in bars 49–79. also distinguishes a prelude and a recitative, while noting that each section borrows to some degree from the style of the other. In Schulenberg's account, the first half moves comparatively directly to the dominant at bar 49, while the second half returns to the tonic only after remote modulations. Richard D. P. Jones gives a more detailed four-part division: an opening passagework section ending with a half close in the tonic at bar 20; a second paragraph, bars 21–49, in which arpeggiated chords alternate with further passagework; an instrumental recitative, bars 49–74; and a coda from bar 75.
+ Formal outline of the fantasia Bars Description Principal points Source 1–20 Opening passagework Athematic figuration; rhythmic patterning; half close in D minor 21–49 Arpeggiated and modulatory passage Alternation of arpeggiated chords and passagework; movement to the dominant 49–74 Recitative Remote modulations; concealed chromatic descent; return toward D minor 75–79 Closing tonic pedal Chromatic descent over tonic pedal; prolonged cadential close
Opening passagework, bars 1–20 The opening part of the fantasia is not built around a recurring theme in the manner of the fugue. Jones describes the fantasia as "quite athematic" and notes that in some earlier free keyboard pieces Bach introduced more definite thematic material as a counterweight to improvisatory freedom. Joseph Kerman describes the opening as organized by rhythmic patterns rather than by free rhythmic disorder. In Kerman's account, after the two opening gestures, the passagework of bars 3–20 is shaped by patterns of three, five, six, and twelve sixteenth notes. Kerman also notes that Schenker's written-out arpeggio realizations for the later shorthand chords continue the same principle: notation is used to suggest a varied performance rather than a mechanically regular one.
Schenker contrasts the standard version of the opening with the early version, BWV 903a. In his discussion of bars 3–4, Schenker states that the early version is comparatively repetitive in its figuration, while the standard version avoids literal repetition through small alterations that introduce contrast and variety. For Schenker, the alteration at bar 4 is significant because it marks a departure from a more uniform figural pattern and helps define the later version's treatment of variation within passagework.
Despite the rapid figuration, Schenker emphasizes the tonal control of the first part. Schenker notes that within bars 1–49 Bach reaches the dominant of D minor seven times, in bars 4, 6, 8, 29, 30, 41, and 49. In Schenker's reading, these dominant arrivals divide the section and help preserve the main key amid the passagework and arpeggiation. Schulenberg makes a related point through voice leading. Schulenberg argues that ordinary harmonic labels are less useful here than an understanding of which notes function as chord tones and which function as anticipations, passing tones, suspensions, or similar embellishing tones. His bass-line sketch for bars 1–49 treats the chromatic surface as an elaboration of underlying bass and voice-leading patterns. In that analysis, the sonorities that resemble augmented-sixth chords in bars 7, 9, and 11, together with the C-minor harmony at bar 12, arise through related chromatic voice leading.