Congratulations, Francis! Just beautiful! Are you playing the harpsichord in the recording?

JulieColl:

No, its my Mac. I learned it Friday, so will post a 'real' performance asap. My Mac is so... stiff and sterile, don't you agree? He only plays the notes and that's it! Stupid! There is nothing human about him. I apologize. I constantly have to hold his hand... well, his mouse... to play any rubato, or expression.

CharlesW:

The Fugue in G minor is a musical composition for the lute, written by Johann Sebastian Bach shortly after he moved from Köthen to Leipzig in 1723.
Today the piece is typically played on the guitar.

Bach extracted the second movement from his Sonata No. 1 in G minor for solo violin, BWV 1001, written in 1720, and rewrote it for the lute. No definitive manuscript version exists today, although there is a contemporary copy in tablature, possibly made by Bach's lutenist friend, Christian Weyrauch.

So here are some reasons I thought of for transposing the piece to A Minor:

1. For those looking for the fugue in G minor 1001, searchers will more readily find it and not be confused by a different title.
2. G Minor, nice for lute perhaps. But since today it is more often played on the guitar, A Minor is the common transcription. (check out Julian Bream's interpretation). I like it in A Minor as it is a little less dark since I am playing it in the mid register of the piano (or harpsichord).
3. Since I can play it in any key I want (ala the transposition tool in any computer music manuscript app), I thought I would keep it in the A minor key that many guitarists use. 4... Don't forget, A minor has no sharps or flats which makes this a quick study as compared to G minor, but that is all a subjective argument since keyboardists are the only people dealing with black and white keys.
5. Being a composer of fugues myself, I don't care in which key you prefer to perform one of my fugues, or any other of my pieces, for that matter. [as you can see in my cataolgue, I put Shubert's Ave Maria in every key possible within reason, and yes, I did change his annoying arpeggios into something more stately and idiomatic for the organ] (And speaking for Bach, (and others, as I tend to do on this forum... ask Fr. Krisman), I don't think he particularly cares either! If you will perform it in 7 sharps or flats, we will be glad to oblige you! However, since Herr Bach is no longer with us, you don't have to take my word for it, and I will certainly allow you to have it in G Minor if you so desire. I am quite able and WILLING to make this available in any key you wish! Just send me your preference!! Bach will still be flattered because I don't think he was necessarily regarded as a composer of worth when he was alive. We composers just want our music PLAYED!!!

Anyway this is STILL officially, Bach's Fugue in G Minor no matter what key we play it in, correct? Hope that helps.

Charles... Since you don't care for Bach, what other composer's pieces can I serve up for you?

I wasn't familiar with the piece, so I wondered about the key change. Your reasons make sense, especially since I know nothing about guitar.

Bach is not my favorite composer, but it is more the excess of Bach for organ that I object to, as well as, some of the instruments his works are played on. I am fine with him in smaller doses on good quality organs. I don't play him much on my church organ because it doesn't do literature from that period as well as it does music from other times.

Hush about those bifocals. A now departed organ company rep received his first bifocals some years ago. As he descended the stairs from the optometrist's office, he fell down the stairs. He took off the bifocals and stomped them into the ground. I know how he felt since I hate them, too. I now have trifocals btw, but have single-vision glasses for playing organ.

The original is for solo violin, of course. Here's the the lute or keyboard transcription by Bach.