Johann Bach and the B.W.V.

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Fascinating find I made a little while ago: I imagine most anyone has heard of Johann Sebastien Bach, and some of those people may have wondered at the curious notations on many of his works which we abbreviate. For example, when we think his epic Pipe Organ piece Toccata & Fugue, we ignore the supplementary "In D Minor, BWV-565". I was curious, so I looked up what that all meant. Turns out BWV means Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, which is German for Bach Musical Catalog. Bach has over 1200 well cataloged and documented pieces for everything from Choir to Organ to Chamber Orchestra.

Typing in on youtube BWV followed by a random number between 1 and 1200 results in a musical piece that does exist and is awesome to listen to.

 

It's quite easy to find pieces you've never heard before, but are just as epic as the ones you already have.

For example, here's that classic I mentioned,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FXoyr_FyFw

 

And something you've probably never heard of,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e329pbyNZk