LDV200

28 BACH_THE ART OF FUGUE BWV1080 The ‘extreme confusion’ that prevailed at the time of the hasty publication of Die Kunst der Fuge after Bach’s death, as reported by themusicologist Philipp Spitta, has obviously not facilitated the clarification of various complex questions, particularly that of order in the sequence of contrapuntal sections. However, such deficiencies leave today’s interpreter at liberty to organise themusical structure as he thinks fit. The options I propose for this recording are based on an analysis of the autograph manuscript and on all the elements that have come down to us. Apart from the fugue containing B.A.C.H., they are based on the existence of five very distinct contrapuntal groups: four simple fugues, three stretto fugues with mirror exposition, four double and triple fugues, two simple mirror fugues, four canonical fugues. I have opted for a sequence in that order, observing various principles relating to the internal economy of each group: - in the simple fugues, counterpoint IV comes last, logically completing the arrangement of counterpoints I, III and II, which come in that order in the autograph manuscript. - the three stretto fugues are then arranged with the number of voices increasing, while the order of the double and triple fugues is determined by the number of subjects (increasing) – the autograph also shows the succession of counterpoints VIII and XI, whose themes, moreover, fully justify that association. - the mirror fugues follow in order, the unfinished fugue taking the very symbolical fourteenth position (B+A+C+H = 14), and I have concluded with the four canonical fugues.