> On the subject of cadenzas, I, too, favor them. Many of his fugues have
> written out cadenzas at the end and others have spaces where it seems obvious
> one should be inserted.  The Passacaglia seems to really want one. In my
> opinion, that's part of the delight of hearing others play these pieces live.
> We'll all do something different.

Yes!  The ³Great² Prelude & Fugue in G, BWV 541, cries out for a cadenza on
that diminished seventh chord with the fermata near the close of the fugue,
and the the three notes after the rest that lead to the dominant chord are
even Bach¹s suggestions as to the final three notes of whatever cadenza you
improvise leading up to that cadence pattern.

    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.

    Karl E. Moyer
    Lancaster PA

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