Johann Sebastian Bach never completed The Art of Fugue,
BWV 1080. It is a collection of contrapuntal movements
with no definite order of presentation or
instrumentation. Movements have been added and taken
away from the final score over the years. Since the
revival of popular interest in Bach's music in the
1850s, historians have narrowed the margin of error
regarding the history and performance of The Art of
Fugue with impressive efficiency. What is certain is
that it is among the most gripping...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach never completed The Art of Fugue,
BWV 1080. It is a collection of contrapuntal movements
with no definite order of presentation or
instrumentation. Movements have been added and taken
away from the final score over the years. Since the
revival of popular interest in Bach's music in the
1850s, historians have narrowed the margin of error
regarding the history and performance of The Art of
Fugue with impressive efficiency. What is certain is
that it is among the most gripping instrumental works
that exists, demonstrating practically every composing
technique available to Bach.
The work was among his estate; he probably did not
discuss the work with anyone, or there would have been
more pressure to have its mysteries settled before his
passing. His son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, found and
published the work as he found it in 1751, still
incomplete. It did not sell well. Originally it was
thought that Bach had been working on it and died in a
race to finish it. Research has proven that he began
the piece in the early 1740s (he died in 1750) and
returned to work on it further over the years. It has
also intrigued alert listeners to hear the final,
unfinished movement trail off with B flat, A, C, B
natural, which in German musical terminology translates
to the word "BACH." This poignant accident of history
has done wonders for the general interest in the piece,
though in its day the public considered this just
shoddy, and C.P.E. Bach attempted to compensate
purchasers with the inclusion of a well-known chorale
prelude, which was not related to the rest of the
work.
Listening to The Art of Fugue is hearing everything
available to the composer of fugues, woven together
better than any other composer has done, and rife with
a sublime poetic energy. Throughout the twentieth
century, a tenuously agreed upon arrangement of 22
movements makes up a most likely reliable incarnation
of what the composer had in mind. It is slightly longer
than 80 minutes in duration and alternates between
keyboard and small ensemble as required. Most of it can
be played on the keyboard, but exact instrumentation
was not necessarily as specific in the early eighteenth
century as it would be later on. The theme is not
obscured at any point, though he sometimes reverses it,
turns it upside down, or both, or combines these
variations with the theme's original form, all
performed concurrently. Simply writing a good canon
takes skill, and what Bach manages with The Art of
Fugue cannot be matched by anything in this regard,
except perhaps a few of his other works, such as The
Musical Offering. In spite of the technical/theoretical
maelstrom The Art of Fugue leaves for scholars to wade
into, there is nothing about its character to deter the
casual listener. The opposite is true; it is almost
impossible to find a more benevolent piece of music.
One can listen to it for years with only a casual grasp
of the greatness that lays amid the scintillating
arabesques that pervade the material. Once entered into
the world of this work, it will gradually reveal itself
to maintain potency greater than most people expect
music to be able to contain.
Although originally written for keyboard, I created
this Arrangement of the Contrapunctus I (BWV 1080 No.
1) for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC