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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Fantasia in G major, BWV 572 Peter Hurford at the Casavant Frères Organ of the Lady of Our Sorrows Church, Toronto, Canada No autograph of BWV 572 survives. The earliest extant manuscript copies of the piece originated in the 1710s (early version) and 1720s (revised version). The piece was most likely composed in the early years of Bach's tenure at Weimar (1708–1717). The revised version must have been completed at least half a year before Bach moved from Köthen to Leipzig in the spring of 1723. An early version of BWV 572 was copied by Johann Gottfried Walther. The title page of Walther's manuscript reads Piece d'Orgue | di | Giov: Sebast: Bach. This copy probably originated around 1714–1717. According to George B. Stauffer, Bach composed this version between 1708 and c. 1712. Also Jean-Claude Zehnder (de) supposes that this version of the piece was composed in Bach's early Weimar years, while he also mentions Siegbert Rampe (de)'s contention that it may have been composed somewhat later. The earliest extant copies of Bach's revised version date from the 1720s. Also these manuscripts carry the title Piece d'Orgue. The oldest extant copy of the revised version was written by a Köthen pupil late 1722, around half a year before Bach moved to Leipzig. A lost manuscript, which served for the publication of the piece in 1846, was, according to Peter Williams (de), likely titled Fantasia. Philipp Spitta, naming the work Fantasia in the 1873 first volume of his Bach-biography, considered it more Buxtehude-like than any other composition by Bach. The Bach Gesellschaft published the piece as Fantasie in 1891. A century later, the New Bach Edition returned to the name found in the early manuscripts, i.e. Pièce d'Orgue. Breitkopf's 21st-century new Urtext edition also uses this name for BWV 572.
