Note 76 — THE PRELUDES AND FUGUES OF J.S. BACH TOCCATAS—FANTASIAS—THE PASSACAGLIA—THE SONATAS

Johann Gottfried Walther was born in 1684, and from 1707 held the position of town organist in Weimar. Not only was he a good musician, but he was also a theoretician of merit; while he learned from his friend Bach the principles of the old school of Sweelinck, the traditions of which had descended through the teachings of Reinken and Buxtehude (see J.G. Walther als Theoretiker.—Study by Gehrmann in the Vierteljahrschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 1891), Bach, on the other hand, was able to obtain other advantages from this interchange; Walther was remarkably well-schooled in harmony, and from his thorough knowledge, of long standing, of Italian chamber music, he undoubtedly was not indirectly connected with these new studies of Bach's.