A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Art of Fugue, The

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Arteaga, Stefano

A Dictionary of Music and Musicians
edited by George Grove

Art of Fugue, The by George Grove

Artusi, Giovanni

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From volume 1 of the work.

1502545A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Art of Fugue, TheGeorge Grove

ART OF FUGUE, THE (Die Kunst der Fuge), a work of Sebastian Bach's, in which the art of fugue and counterpoint is taught, not by rules but in examples. It was written in 1749, the last year of his life, and is therefore the last legacy of his immense genius and experience. The work consists of sixteen fugues—or in Bach's language 'counterpoints'—and four canons, for one pianoforte, and two fugues for two pianofortes, all on one theme

${ \time 4/4 \key d \minor \relative d' { d2 a' | f d | cis d4 e | f2 ~ f8 g f e | d2 } }$

in every variety of treatment; and closes with a fugue on three new subjects, in the same key as before, the third being the name of BACH (according to the German notation):—

${ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key d \minor \clef bass \partial 2 \relative b { bes2^"B" | a^"A" c^"C" | b4.^"H" cis8 d2 | } }$

This fugue leaves off on a chord of A, and is otherwise obviously unfinished, interrupted, according to Forkel, by the failure of Bach's eyes, and never resumed. On the other hand the writing of the autograph (Berlin Library), though small and cramp, is very clear, and not like the writing of a half-blind man. We learn on the same authority that it was the master's intention to wind up his work with a fugue on four subjects, to be reversed in all the four parts; of this however no trace exists. The Art of Fugue was partly engraved (on copper) before Bach's death, and was published by Marpurg in 1752 at four thalers, with the addition at the end of a Chorale, 'Wenn wir in hochsten Nothen sind,' in four parts in florid counterpoint, which is said to have been dictated by the master to his son-in-law Altnikol very shortly before his departure, and is thus his 'Nunc dimittis.' This chorale, which has no apparent connection with the preceding portion, is in G major; it is omitted in the editions of Nägeli and Peters, but will be found in Becker's 'J. S. Bach's vierstimmige Kirchengesänge' (Leipzig, 1843).

Thirty copies only of the work were printed by Marpurg, and the plates, sixty in number, came into the hands of Emanuel Bach, who on Sept. 14, 1766, in a highly characteristic advertisement, offered them for sale at any reasonable price. What became of them is not known. There are two modern editions—that of Nägeli of Zürich (1803), published at the instigation of C. M. von Weber, a splendid oblong folio, with the fugues engraved both in score and in compressed arrangement; and that of Peters (1839), edited by Czerny. Neither of these has the Chorale; but the latter of the two contains the 'Thema regium' and the 'Ricerca' from the 'Musikalisches Opfer.' An excellent analysis of the work is Hauptmann's 'Erläuterungen,' etc., originally prefixed to Czerny's edition, but to be had separately (Peters, 1841).

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