Capriccio Sopra La Lontananza, BWV 992

Along with his major cycles such as the English and French suites, the Goldberg Variations or the Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach also left a wealth of single pieces with a great diversity of titles; they stem in large part from his early youth and student period around the years 1700-1710. The title of the present work – translated as “Capriccio on the departure of his most beloved brother” – reveals that this is programmatic, onomatopoeic music of the kind that was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. In its six short and imaginatively-titled movements Bach shows a different side of himself from the usual polyphonist. Perhaps we owe this piece to the departure of his brother Jacob Bach, who entered service in Sweden in 1704.