Karl Moyer writes:

<Dr. Erick Schwandt, then an Eastman school musicology prof, advised me
at one point while a student there not to use pitch material in the cadenza
that does higher than the highest note that Bach uses near the point of the
cadenza, for that would seem to out-do Bach himself.   Nor should the
cadenza be anything like the enormous cadenzas that the 19th century began
to apply to concerti played with orchestra; rather, just a brief flourish.>

In most instances, I would agree that brevity would be appropriate for a
cadenza added to the fugue of a J. S. Bach prelude and fugue, such as the G major
that Karl cites.  On the other hand, given the extended and exploitive nature
of the passacaglia and fugue, I believe it might be possible to conceive of a
more extended improvisatory interpolation, even perhaps one in two voices.
For precedent I cite the proportions of the cadenza at the end of the first
movement of Bach's 5th Brandenburg concerto, and while I do not suggest one of
equivalent length for the passacaglia's fugue, it is possible that more than a
brief flourish of 2-4 measures in length might well suit the occasion.

It helps to look at other organ fugues in which a cadenza has been written
into the movement by Bach, such as the A minor and F minor fugues; both are
relatively brief but brilliant.  But in comparison, a cadenza for the passacaglia
and fugue is summing up an accumulation of two major movements that exploit
the same subject exhaustively, and a closing flourish could echo those
proportions respectively.

Ennis Fruhauf

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