Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540

The Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540, is an organ work written by Johann Sebastian Bach, potentially dating from the composer's time in Weimar, or in Leipzig.

This conception of "complementary movements" was even a favourite of Bach's, and the dramatic nature of the toccata as contrasted to the counterpoint of the fugue should, as Peter Williams writes, "not be misunderstood as mere discrepancy".

The canons and pedal solos effect the departure from the home key of F to the dominant C, and the rest of the movement, with its concertante 3-part imitation and "proto-waltzes", constitute the harmonic return.

In particular, the doubled root is found to move outward in contrary chromatic motion to a major 9th; in the bass by a descending half tone, far from the expected fifth.

Both represent two diverse aspects of Italian influence: the motoric rhythms and sequential passagework of the Toccata, and the traditional alla breve counterpoint of the Fugue, with its chromaticism, harmonic suspensions, and uninterrupted succession of subjects and answers.