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Toccata and fugue in D minorBach, or whoever the composer of this piece was (more about this later), wouldn't ever dreamt of his composition being used to depict demonic and terrifying scenes. The godly church organ associated with diabolical subjects? Mmm... This is due to the minor key, the lack of structure, and the broken and often surprising broad chords heard in the Toccata.
The organ in Weimar where he probably composed itToccata?Toccata, from Italian toccare, "to touch". It is a virtuoso piece usually for a keyboard instrument featuring sections of virtuosic passagework, often with fugal or imitative interludes. It originated during the in the late Renaissance period in Italy. Bach got in touch with this genre through Dieterich Buxtehude, one of the musicians he most admired. Buxtehude wrote in the so-called Stylus fantasticus. In the words of Athanasius Kircher the Stylus fantasticus is "the most free and unrestrained method of composing, it is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, it was instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues."
Dieterich BuxtehudeBach composed this after Buxtehude, improvising on the organ freely and unrestrained.
Really Bach's?You may would be amazed to read that one of Bach´s most representative works, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor wasn't composed by him. Well, this is what some scholars believe. They say that the source of the only manuscript is dubious but most of their arguments are about its stylistic incongruence with his other works, specially his other organ works. Peter Williams, for example, who wrote an article about this in the magazine Early Music, argues that this piece uses a progression of notes Bach would never have allowed, that is, doubling at the octave and in consecutive fifths. Others also claim that it has a simplistic counterpoint, not worthy of the old master. My own opinion is: Yes, of course, the old master could break rules too, specially when he was young!. I'm on the side of the respected author of one of the most authoritative Bach's biographies to date, scholar Christoph Wolff. He argues that the Toccata and Fugue is a transcription of an improvisation he used to test organs, originated very early in his carreer, during the early 1700's. It is true that Bach broke rules on this piece, but you must have in mind that it was mostly an improvisational piece.
AdaptationsIt can be heard in a wide variety of films, appart from the cited above, always in somewhat negative situations. The Toccata and fugue proved to be appealing to and was adapted many times by rock bands. Instrumental band Sky famously recorded it in 1980, electric guitar being the main instrument. You can hear this version here. Renditions of the piece are often played by heavy metal guitarrists. here for example. Leopold Stokowski famously adapted it for full orchestra in 1927, it was the opening theme of the film Fantasia.
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