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I love this song, but I wish I knew for sure if Johann Sebastian Bach deserves the credit... It's just something that annoys me. Anybody have any answers? I hear that one of his students probably wrote it.

-Philip Jones

Complicated question!
I think that scholars agree that this is not a work written for organ by Bach—stylistically, the harmonies are those that he only used starting in the 1730s, and the techniques (parallel octaves!) are unusual.
I like the theory that this is a work of Bach, but for Violin (actually, I think the new consensus is on violoncello piccolo, but close enough)—Gidon Kremer and others have recorded this quite convincingly.

Hello,

If you want to have an in-depht answer, I recommend the article A Toccata in D minor for Organ by J.S. Bach?, by Peter Williams (Early Music, Vol.9, No.3, Wind Issue (Jul., 1981), pp.330-337), published by the Oxford University Press. (You may acces it via a library membership).

In my opinion, JS Bach wrote this piece for violin (or violoncello piccolo, as I now learn), which was arranged for organ by an anonymus 18th century musician. If you want to discover Bach organ music, I suggest you try the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (BWV 582), the "Little" Fugue in G minor (BWV 578) or any of the Trio Sonatas (BWV 525-30).

perlnerd666 wrote:actually, I think the new consensus is on violoncello piccolo, but close enough

Do you have the reference for this info ? I am just curious to know more about it. Thanks !

I don't have a reference—I heard it from Prof. Young (University of Indiana) a few weeks ago.

perlnerd666 wrote:I don't have a reference—I heard it from Prof. Young (University of Indiana) a few weeks ago.

heard what?

LilasPastia wrote:

perlnerd666 wrote:actually, I think the new consensus is on violoncello piccolo, but close enough

Do you have the reference for this info ? I am just curious to know more about it. Thanks !

I think this is what Perlnerd was responding to.

Correct.