Lecture 2
Preludes and their Fugues
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Das Wohltemperierte Clavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
The ‘48’.
Book I (1722)
Book II (1742)
[…]surpassing in logic, in format and in musical quality, all earlier endeavours of the some kind […]. […] shows a perfectly balanced contrast between free and strict styles, each represented by several different types of prelude and fugue. Bach’s writing in Book 1 of the ‘48’ in the most varied fugues – from two to five part, in styles from the traditional slow ricercare to a brilliant Italianate manner, and using a wide range of technical device, represents the culmination of a 20 year process of maturation and stands unparalleled in the history of music. (Grove, 1980, Vol. 1, 813)
Supplementary Reading List (with thanks to Professor Wollenberg):
Bullivant, Roger, Fugue (London: Hutchinson, 1971).*
______, article, ‘Fugue’, New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980), vol. 7, pp.9-21, esp. § 1: Terminology and Procedures, and § 3: Baroque Period; see also New Grove Dictionary, 2nd edition (London: Macmillan, 2001), vol. 9, pp. 318-332)
Butt, John (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Bach (Cambridge: CUP, 1997), esp Chapter 9 ‘The Keyboard Works: Bach as Teacher and Virtuoso’
Mann, Alfred, The Study of Fugue [translations of theoretical texts] (New York: Dover, 1987; first publ. London: Faber, 1958)
Morris, R.O, The Structure of Music (London: OUP, 1935), esp. pp. 89-102*
Prout, Ebenezer, Analysis of J.S.Bach’s Forty Eight Fugues (London: Edwin Ashdown, 1910)
Rose, Bernard, Fugal Exposition (Booklet, Oxford: Faculty of Music, 1988)*
Tovey, D.F. Commentaries in the Associated Board edition of the ‘48’.
1 For those interested in exploring Schenkerian Analysis, see
Cook, Nicholas, A Guide to Musical Analysis (Oxford: OUP, 1987), Ch 2 for a clear introductory explanation of Schenker’s analysis of the C major Prelude No 1 (‘48’ Book 1)
* items of particular value
Basic Fugal Terminology (extracted from Prout and SW; modified RA):
Fugue: A multi-voiced contrapuntal composition (i.e. with all voices of separate melodic importance) founded on a theme called the Subject, given out … by each voice in turn and subsequently developed.
Subject: The theme on which the fugue is founded Answer: the transposition of the Subject, usually into the key of the dominant, given to the second voice which enters… The first entries of the remaining voices usually alternate between subject and answer.
Real Answer: an exact transposition of the Subject.
Tonal Answer: one modified according to the principle that a dominant in the subject (or a modulation to the dominant key) is answered by the tonic.
Countersubject: A recurrent counterpoint which accompanies the subject. In the exposition the Countersubject is usually first found in the voice that has previously had the Subject or Answer.
Exposition: The first statement of the subject and answer by several voices [in turn], together with the countersubject and other incidental matter (e.g. a ‘free part’ added to the Subject and Counter Subject; a free link between entries, often called Codetta).
Episode: a passage in which [entries of ] the Subject and Answer are absent [or present in fragmentary form] often modulatory and usually [freely] based on material contained in the Exposition.
2 Case Study
The ‘48’ Preludes and Fugues Book II
Prelude and Fugue No XII in F major (BWV 880)
Prelude:
‘It is in the weightiest and most serious contrapuntal style, more like that of organ the clavier music, and seems to lead the hearer to expect something on the toccata lines’. (Parry, C.H.H, Johann Sebastian Bach (London: Putnam, 1909. Revised edn, 1934), 488
Outline Periodic Structure
Bars 1-16, (Period I. ending with Perfect Cadence in V - C major)
Bars 17-32, (Period II. Ending with Imperfect Cadence in VI – d minor)
Bars 33-46, (Period III. Ending with Perfect Cadence in V – C major)
Bars 46(2) - 49(1), Brief transition to mediant minor, a minor)
Bars 49-56, (Period IV. Ending with a Perfect Cadence in the key of the median minor, a minor)
Bars 57-72, (Period V. Ending with a Perfect Cadence in the Tonic, F major)
• Form is sui generis. No obvious formal model (e.g. Binary).
• Synthesis of free flowing fantasia style within a very broad rounded binary outline (cf. return of opening statement in I at bar 57).
• Second model greatly expanded through keys related by thirds.
• Extensive working out of opening motive. Subsidiary motive introduced in tenor part at Bar 49
• The ‘form’ of this movement is a result of the uniformity of thematic process emerging from the harmonic structure.
3 Fugue
Three Voices
The structure [of Fugue in F minor Book II No 12] has been known to rouse the wrath of theorists who prefer to remain unaware that Bach devoted the entire first four fugues of The Art of Fugue to a didactic demonstration that even on a severely plain subject, primarily designed for the utmost complexities of combination with itself and other counterpoints, it is possible for a Fugue to enjoy life without Stretti, without Double Counterpoint, without Inversion, and without anything but well timed entries of its Subject on the course of a happy flow of Episodes’. (D.F.Tovey, Commentary, ‘48’ Book 2, Associated Board Edition)
Statement (Bars 1-25)
1-5: Subject in Treble 5-9: Tonal Answer in Alto. No regular CS 9-14: Extended codetta, passing from C, through g minor, B flat major, d minor and back to F) 14-18: Subject in bass 18-21: Codetta, F to C 21-25: Redundant entry, Answer in Bass
Free Flowing Episodic Section (Bars 25-85, with interpolations of the Subject defining subdivision into shorter episodes)
25-52: Episode I., modulating from C back to F 52-56: Subject in Alto 56-66: Episode II., modulating from F to B flat 66-70: Subject in Bass 70-85: Episode III., modulating from B flat to F.
Restatement (Bars 85-99: Minor mode inflection of the Subject. No Answer. Extended 3rd entry)
85-89: Subject in Treble 89-95: Subject in Bass. First limb of the Subject is four times repeated, one step higher each time. 95-99: Coda
NB. No stretti or inversion of the Subject.
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