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The Art of Fugue

The Art of FugueBach Fugues for Keyboard, 1715 1750

Joseph Kerman

With new recordings

by Davitt Moroney and Karen Rosenak

university of california press

University of California PressOakland, California

2005 by The Regents of the University of California Open Access edition 2015

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses.

Suggested citation: Kerman, Joseph. The Art of Fugue: Bach Fugues for Keyboard, 17151750. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1

An earlier edition of The Art of Fugue was cataloged as follows by the Library of Congress:Kerman, Joseph, 1924 The art of fugue : Bach fugues for keyboard, 17151750/ Joseph Kerman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. Includes compact disc. isbn 0-520-24358-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Fugue. 2. Bach, Johann Sebastian, 16851750. Keyboard music. I. Title. mt59.k49 2005 786.1872092dc22 2005004045

Recording engineer: Robert Schumaker. Tracks 12 and 78 were recorded at International House, University of California, Berkeley, on February 8, 2004; track 3 at the same location on February 23, 2004; track 4 at Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, Berkeley, on April 28, 2004; and tracks 56 at Hertz Hall, University of California, Berkeley, on January 24, 2004.

ISBN (OA e-edition) 978-0-520-96259-0 ISBN (POD paperback) 978-0-520-28763-1

Manufactured in the United States of America

The paper used in the print edition of this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.481992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

To

Ellen Rosand,

thirty-year friend

A song that is well and artificially made cannot be well perceived nor understood at the first hearing, but the oftener you shall hear it, the better cause of liking you will discover.

William Byrd

What I can offer has a meaning only for those who have heard, and who keep on hearing. To such I may be able to give a suggestion here and there for renewed hearing.

Sren Kierkegaard

contents

List of Recordings and Scores xiii

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xxiii

1. Fugue in C Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 11

2. Fugue in C Minor: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 110

3. Fughetta in C Major, BWV 95215

4. Fugue in C-sharp Minor: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1

20

5. Contrapunctus 1: The Art of Fugue30

x / Contents

6. Contrapunctus 10: The Art of Fugue36

7. Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 90347

8. Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1

60

9. Fugue in E Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 269

10. Fugue on Jesus Christus unser Heiland: Clavierbung, book 3

79

11. Fugue in F-sharp Minor: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1

89

12. Gigue: English Suite no. 3 in G Minor96

13. Fugue in A-flat Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1101

14. Fugue in A Minor: Fantasy and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 904

107

15. Fugue in B-flat Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 2118

16. Fugue in B Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 2125

Contents / xi

Afterword 135

Notes 141

Notes to the Recordings 147

Glossary 151

Bibliography 159

Index 163

list of recordings and scores

Recording information is given on the copyright page. Audio files and scores are available in the open access edition of this book, available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.

recordings (tracks 18)

12 Prelude and Fugue in C Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1 Karen Rosenak, piano 1:27 / 1:52 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.2

3 Fughetta in C Major, BWV 952 Davitt Moroney, clavichord 1:54 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.3

4 Fugue on Jesus Christus unser Heiland: Clavierbung, book 3

xiii

http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.1http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.2http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.3

xiv / List of Recordings and Scores

Davitt Moroney, organ 4:52 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.4

56 Fantasy and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 904 Davitt Moroney, harpsichord 2:46 / 5:34 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.5 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.6

78 Prelude and Fugue in B Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 2 Karen Rosenak, piano 1:43 / 3:28 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.8

scores

12 Prelude and Fugue in C Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.9 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.10

34 Prelude and Fugue in C Minor: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.11 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.12

5 Fughetta in C Major, BWV 952 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.13

67 Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Minor: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.14 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.15

89 Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903

http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.4http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.5http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.6http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.7http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.8http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.9http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.10http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.11http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.12http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.13http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.14http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.15

List of Recordings and Scores / xv

http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.16 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.17

1011 Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.18 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.19

1213 Prelude and Fugue in E Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.20 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.21

14 Fugue on Jesus Christus unser Heiland: Clavierbung, book 3 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.22

1516 Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.23 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.24

17 Gigue: English Suite no. 3 in G Minor http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.25

1819 Prelude and Fugue in A-flat Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.26 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.27

2021 Fantasy and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 904 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.28 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.29

2223 Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.30 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.31

http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.16http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.17http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.18http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.19http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.20http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.21http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.22http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.23http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.24http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.25http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.26http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.27http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.28http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.29http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.30http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.31

2425 Prelude and Fugue in B Major: The Well-Tempered Clavier, book 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.32 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.33

xvi / List of Recordings and Scores

http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.32http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.1.33

This is a book of commentaries on selected Bach fugues essays in musical analysis and appreciation, one might call them, to enlarge on the title of Donald Francis Toveys famous Essays in Musical Analysis. The fugues are keyboard fugues, written for clavichord, harpsichord, and organ. About half of them come from the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC), the other half from a variety of other sources, some of them less familiar: Bachs comprehensive keyboard publica-tion Clavierbung (Keyboard Practice), Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), the English Suites, and other manuscript sources. The music stems from all periods of Bachs career except for the earliest. The Chromatic Fantasy dates most probably from his Weimar years, around 1715, and the two contrapuncti from TheArt of Fugue reached their definitive form when Bach revised the work just before his death in 1750.

Annotations of any extent on Bach fugues are hard to find outside of the technical literature, and I have taken the time to do justice, as best I can, to these short but very rich pieces. The

preface

xvii

xviii / Preface

discussion is geared to individual segments and bars within the fugues, so readers will need the sheet music with the bars num-bered. Most of those who come to this book will already own copies of the WTC, the source of many of the pieces, and some of the other selections too. This book includes scores of all but two of the works discussed in detail. [Two scores from Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 that were part of the original edition are not included here.Ed.]

Also included are performances of five of the fugues discussed below, specially recorded for