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I ran across a YouTube video that was well done and brought back years of memories:

Bach Little Fugue in G Minor/Flugelhorn Quartet

Here follows an expanded version of the comment I made concerning it.

“Bach organ fugues are the best. I got interested in these as a young teenager. Fugue in G Minor was one of my favorites for several reasons. It has a certain joy with melancholy undertones. The latter is probably the result of the minor key and the lilting, repetitive nature. These two characteristics, joy and melancholy matched my aspirations and personality as a young person. Secondly, I was introduced to the tune by my older brother who whistled it frequently. I dare say that by now I have whistled it more than him, because I did for many years, though only occasionally now. Thirdly, the pipe organ has both an awesome and eerie sound that brings out the full emotion of this tune. This brass rendition is very good. I realized after I had listened to all of it that the flugelhorn is brighter, less eerie, and smoother than the powerful, foreboding, staccato of the organ (1). I like both, but it also occurs to me that this flugelhorn quartet speaks more to my present personality. Music is far more than notes. Even renditions attempting to be identical in tempo and instrumentation may be far different in emotion and intensity. God has given us a great gift in music, which we should use as Bach did: “Soli Deo Gloria” (2)

  1. Bach – Fugue in G Minor BWV 578
  2. “To God alone, the glory”

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My friend emphasized the word “Forte” as he described the good properties of the product. The product was Garlic Forte to be exact. Now to you or me that may seem obvious, but it must not have been to him, because when I said, “That must be loud”, by which I meant intense, he didn’t catch my drift. I explained that forte means “loud” in music, like the opposite of piano. He replied, “I never knew that.” No big deal, because it is a trivia fact if you have not been trained in music. But it set me to thinking about the real meaning of the word, its origin in music and elsewhere.

The Fortepiano was invented by an Italian chap named Cristofori in 1698. (1) I knew from my own piano training as a boy that the pianoforte, or piano as it became to be known, was so named because it struck the keys with a hammer so that it could be played loud (forte) or soft (piano) whereas its precursor, the harpsichord, plucks the strings at a more or less constant volume.

But why would an herbal product be called “Forte”? The word more generally means “strong”. And to say, for example, that “Talking is his forte”, is frequently said as “Talking is his strong suit.” So, Garlic Forte is strong or concentrated or effective or odiferous garlic. Well, I guess you could soften things down a bit and use Garlic Piano, but someone might note that you are playing a Musical Joke. (2)

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano
  2. K.522 by Mozart

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Myrela

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