"The Great" Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 (an alternate version is numbered BWV 543a) is a piece of organ music written by Johann Sebastian Bach sometime around his years as court organist to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1708-1717). It is the final incarnation of Bach's harpsichord Fugue in A minor, BWV 944, written in 1708. This piece should not be confused with the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, which is also called "the Great."
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The Prelude starts out with a long introduction, introducing the chromatic, almost descending subject, then goes off into a flurry of intricate arpeggios over a long pedal point. The build up is then interrupted by a virtuoso run in the harmonic minor, then a grinding tremolo of a mix of the b diminished chord, and the c augmented chord. A stop and go pattern of chromatic runs, downward arpeggios, and pedal solos based on the opening sequence ensue. The Toccata-like prelude bears the marks of Bach's early, north German-influenced style, while the fugue could be considered a later product of Bach's maturity.
The fugue is in 6/8 time, unlike the prelude, which is in 4/4 time. The Fugue ends in one of Bach's most Toccata-like, virtuosic cadenzas in the harmonic minor.
Because of the piece's overall rhapsodic nature, most organists can play this piece in any tempo they want, and it can be easily transcribed to a different instrument. Liszt transcribed this, and many of Bach's other works, for the piano.
Italian composer Ennio Morricone created a variation of Prelude and Fugue in A minor for the main theme of the French movie The Sicilian Clan.