List of transcriptions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach’s music has often been transcribed for other instruments.
Bach's lifetime
- Bach himself was an inveterate transcriber of his works for other musical forces. For examples, consult the following articles:
Classical era
Romantic era
- Ferruccio Busoni made a piano transcription of the chaconne from the Violin Partita in D minor, as did Brahms and others.
- Ave Maria by Charles Gounod is based on the first prelude of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
- Romantic guitarist Tárrega transcribed a variety of Bach works, including his Fugue from Violin Sonata No. 1.
- Liszt arranged Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544, Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 545, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546, Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547, Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548, Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, and the melody of Movement 2 of Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (also the same as the Crucifixus from the Mass in B minor BWV 232) for piano, and Movement 3 of the Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV 1017, the same theme mentioned above from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12, the Introduction and Fugue from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21, and the Andante from Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38 for Organ or Harmonium.
- Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) produced "Six Little Pieces after sketches by J. S. Bach" (1890) for piano solo.
20th century and later
- Sergei Rachmaninoff made a transcription of the violin partita in E major, BWV 1006, including the following movements: prelude, gavotte and gigue.
- Leopold Stokowski made a large number of transcriptions for full orchestra, including the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ, which appeared in the movie Fantasia
- Alexander Siloti made many piano transcriptions of Bach, most famously his Prelude in B minor based on Bach's Prelude in E minor BWV 855a.
- Andrés Segovia was famous for his playing arrangements of Bach works transcribed for classical guitar, such as his very difficult Chaconne from the Violin Partita in D minor.
- Schoenberg arranged for orchestra Bach's St Anne organ prelude and fugue in Eb major
- Webern arranged the ricercar from The Musical Offering for orchestra.
- The Modern Jazz Quartet frequently performed compositions of Bach as transcribed for the instruments of their ensemble.
- Violinists interested in historically informed performance, notably Andrew Manze, have created "anti-transcriptions"; that is, reconstructed hypothetical original versions for violin, of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ.