Toccata in D minor by JS Bach BWV 565, arranged for Hammered Dulcimer by Peter Jones

I first heard this piece in junior school while watching 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, where Captain Nemo plays it on the organ aboard the Nautilus. I remember thinking, “I want to play that.” Years later, in high school, I took organ lessons and eventually did. It is one of Bach’s most popular and widely known works. In Bach’s own time, most music was written for specific occasions and was rarely performed again. The idea of a lasting “classical canon” developed later. By the early nineteenth century, musicians and audiences had begun to rediscover earlier composers, and Felix Mendelssohn played a key role in reviving Bach’s reputation—most famously with his 1829 performance of the St. Matthew Passion. The Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) survives in an undated manuscript copied by Johannes Ringk (1717–1778), a German organist and student of Johann Peter Kellner, a friend and associate of Bach who helped circulate his music through copies. Ringk's manuscript, labelled J.S. Bach, was likely written in the 1730s, when Ringk was still quite young. The work was first published in 1833. Although traditionally attributed to Bach, BWV 565 has long prompted debate among musicologists. Some have questioned whether its style fully aligns with Bach’s known organ works, suggesting it may reflect North German influences or even have originated as a piece for violin or harpsichord, later arranged for organ. While no consensus has been reached, the attribution to Bach remains widely given, though debated. The Toccata is often described as dramatic, rhapsodic, and storm-like. Its striking opening has made it one of the most recognizable pieces in Western music. It appears in Disney’s Fantasia (in Leopold Stokowski’s orchestration) and has frequently been used in film—from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to The Phantom of the Opera and For a Few Dollars More—often to evoke mystery or horror. The work has been arranged for many instruments and ensembles, including piano, violin, harpsichord, guitar, lute, brass, orchestra, and accordion, attesting to its enduring popularity and versatility.