GLENN GOULD AND THE ART OF FUGUE

by Sean Malone

Sean Malone is a doctoral student in > "Bach was forever writing fugues," Bach’s last days are the stuff of rarified music theory at the University of Oregon. Glenn Gould wrote, in his essay "Art of musical legend—a man consumed with A bassist and composer, he has performed the Fugue." "No pursuit was better fitted to completing the work that would sum up widely in North America and Europe, and his temperament, and there is none by not only his own musical life but ever y t h i n g has more than fifty recordings to his cred - which the development of his art can be so that could, should, or would need be said it—most recently Emergent, featuring Bill precisely evaluated." By merely substitut- of counterpoint: his colossal Die Kunst der Bruford and Steve Hackett. He has had ing two words in the first phrase— Fuge (The Art of Fugue). Something simi- two books published by the Hal Leonard "Gould" for "Bach," and "recording" for lar could be said of Gould: he abandoned C o r p o ration, the most recent featuring "writing"—we arrive at a rather succinct the stage, concentrated on recording, and transcriptions and analyses of perform - and accurate portrait of Glenn Gould the toward the end of his life revisited the ances by the late bassist Jaco Pastorius. pianist, who was known for, and judged seminal works that secured his fame— Malone has done Gould-related research b y, his highly stylized and analytical most notably the Goldberg Va r i a t i o n s , focussed on musical imagery, cognition, r e n d i t i o n s of Johann Sebastian Bach’s though according to Bruno Monsaingeon and Gould’s unique understanding of keyboard works. In fact, if we apply the he was apparently also considering Bach, and has presented some of this same approach to the sentences that follow r e r e c o r d i n g The Well-Tempered Clavier. It research at music-theory conferences in in that same 1972 essay, we arrive at an seems as if he discovered an even deeper the United States and Canada. He has eerily reflexi ve description (my substitutions "truth" about the music of Bach and taught a seminar at the University of are in brackets): "He has always been retreated further inward, both musically and Oregon entitled "Glenn Gould, the Last judged by his [Bach]. In his last years, still so c i a l l y , in order to pursue the musical ideal. Puritan," on the pianist’s life and work— [recording] [Bach] at a time when the A common image of Glenn Gould the the first such course ever offered in the avant-garde of his day was occupied with pianist is that of a well-trained musician U.S. His article "Much Ado about more [pianistic] endeavors …" and performer who, by intense study and Humming: The Gould Descant," based on It is well known that Bach turned his years of practice, rendered some of the a lecture delivered at the 1999 Glenn back on musical trends that were popular most virtuosic, informed, and stylized per- Gould Gathering, in Toronto, appeared in during the last years of his life; as Gould formances of Bach’s keyboard works. This our Spring 2000 issue. Malone’s personal put it, "fugues were out, and minuets were description is not incorrect, though in Web site is at www.seanmalone.net. in, I guess." Romantic speculations about Gould’s case it describes him only from the top down: listen to a recording and For a moment, simply take for granted and structure—certain "thou shalts" and hear a little humming, throw in some G o u l d ’s technique—agility, accuracy, "thou shalt nots"— there is no one pattern gl o ves, a few scarves, and a squeaky chair, clarity, and an ability to reveal inner voi c e s common to all fugues. Unlike such musical and there you have it—Glenn Gould for that few if any have equalled before or forms as binary, rondo, or sonata-allegro, people who dismiss Glenn Gould, even since—and consider the notion of musical the harmonic and melodic outlines of those who respect him as a pianist. imagery and embodiment, an inner world which are quite regular and predictable, How e ver , with this article I hope to offer a of structural perfection, where the score fugue is an organic musical process, in different description, to address those ele- exists for its own sake and the implications which the ultimate form of the piece is ments of Gould’s intellect, interests, and of its fugal complexity become a collection determined solely by the imperatives of its performance practices that contribute to of variables and equations whose solutions particular thematic material; as the theorist explain, if only in part, his ext r a o r d i n a r y found there way through Gould’s voice Heinrich Schenker put it, a fugue has a understanding of Bach, manifested in his and conducting. Now, add that to the "life force" through which it seeks out its "idiosyncratic" performances. This is not an aforementioned virtuosic technique, and "goal of directed motion." attempt to create some kind of formula, or we begin to see that something much more What follows is a metaphor that better otherwise compartmentalize or deconstruct than piano playing is occurring: Gould is illustrates the differences between form the brilliance of his playing; rather, it is an trying to expose and communicate those and process. If we were "dropped" into the attempt to bring to light and coalesce things that make the score "perfect" before middle of a sonata-allegro movement, we those elements, musical and non-musical, a single note is struck—an almost could glance at what came before and after that are components of the immensely voyeuristic glimpse into the sanctifi e d our point of arrival and know not only co m p l i c a t e d mosaic that is Gould’s ar t . design of musical and intellectual purity. where we "are" in the movement, but what Glenn Gould was a man of rare A third piece in the Gould puzzle is likely to come next, and when things i n t e l l i g e n c e, whose tremendous capacity comes in the form of his vo l u m i n o u s will all be over. Being dropped into the for thought found a home in the idealistic output as a broadcaster, including but not middle of a fugue, however, would be akin world of fugue, from where he sought to limited to his "contrapuntal radio docu- to eavesdropping midway into a conversa- understand and impart the structure of m e n t a r i e s ," and taking account of his tion among three or four people: they all music and the very nature of understanding p r o c l iv i t y for multi-tasking in his personal seem to be talking about the same thing, itself, his every corporeal conduit life. (According to Monsaingeon, as many though we cannot be quite sure of what r e l e n t l e s s l y seeking to communicate the as eighteen televisions could be found at that topic is, whether anyone has had any- u n fathomable dimension of Bach’s his studio in The Inn on the Park, where thing interesting to say so far, where the u n ive r s e through an instrument that, at s everal radios might also be tuned to conversation will lead, or when it might times, seemingly could not keep pace— s e p a r a t e stations.) Before we take a look end. Fugue, in other words, resists the the piano. In essence, to understand fugue at some examples and their metaphoric usual formal and temporal markers that so is to understand Gould, and in doing so we implications, it is necessary to have an ha n d i l y articulate binary, rondo, sonata- may come closer to understanding the understanding of the nature and structure allegro, and other such forms. We are left ma n y facets of his legac y as an interwoven , of fugue, the musical genre in which with a musical genre that seemingly has a contrapuntal tapestry. Gould felt most at home and whose life of its own, communicates a wide range In my previous article for l a n g u a g e he spoke fluently. of emotion and meaning, retains a recognizable Gl e n n G o u l d , "Much Ado about Humming: timeline, yet resists a single encompassing The Gould Descant," I suggested that definition. This sense of dichotomy was Gould’s singing while performing was an p r evalent in Bach’s day, embodied in expression of his internalized and idealized F u g u e c o n t e m p o r a r y philosophy and aesthetics, image of musical structure, supplementing and most certainly figured in the crafting the limitations of his chosen instrument. I of his contrapuntal masterpieces. T h e re has been demonstration supported this claim with transcriptions Every fugue is based on, and begins of the universal truth by fugue, that illustrated sung melodies not found in with, a melody referred to as the subject. and it may be that more wisdom the score, further emphasizing Gould’s The subject can be long, short, fast, or is to be found in that than detachment from the physical requirements slow, moving by step or leap or both. in the religions and religious books of playing the piano and his concentration There are few practical restrictions on the of all the world together. on musical structure. However, this is only subject’s melodic and rhythmic content: one part of the picture. Gould’s conductor- — Sacheverell Sitwell the subject must, for instance, fall within a like movements, often when his left hand manageable range and offer generous was free, not only suggest a metaphoric Fugue has been, and continues to be, h a r m o n i c possibilities if it is to be " i nvisible orchestra ," but exhibit an c o n s i d e r e d the most erudite of all contra- " s u c c e s s f u l " in generating a fugue. It is intriguingly consistent and delicate puntal genres. Part and parcel of the quite possible to obey these restrictions r e l a t i o n s h ip to the active voices being u n ive r s a l mystique of fugue is that despite and compose a subject (and ensuing performed by his right hand. certain expectations regarding its content fugue) that, as Gould said of Mozart’s K. EXA M P L E 1 : The main subject of The Art of Fugue, as it appears in the opening bars of Contrapunctus 1.

394 fugue, "follows all the rules and doesn’t further reinforcing the notion that a fugue "a counterpoint") all based on the same quite get off the ground"—meaning that, is more a process than a form. In general, subject (see Example 1). The collection despite attention to fugal technique, however, a fugue tends to become more begins with "simple" fugues and continues w i t h o u t a certain character and the will to complex and include more contrapuntal with increasingly more complex fugues, seek out its own contrapuntal destiny a manipulations as it proceeds, and stretto eventually yielding double and triple subject can end up languishing in an usually (though not always) appears fugues (i.e., fugues that develop two and e n d l e s s morass of sequences, like those toward the end of a fugue. three separate subjects), a mirror fugue, found in the fugues of Handel, Mozart, Our understanding of fugue, and our and several interpolated canons. W h e n and even early Bach. means of evaluating fugues, derive almost Bach began to oversee the engraving of the Once the subject has been stated, it entirely from the work of J. S. Bach, a work, in 1749, he substantially revised his immediately appears again in a new voice. composer without peer in this genre; with original fugues, and expanded the collection In counterpoint, a "voice" is any independent Bach’s passing we may demarcate the end by adding another simple fugue, two more musical line, whether the music is instru- of the Baroque era and of the golden age canons, and, most important, what was to mental or vocal, and in Bach’s fugues, of fugue. Pianists and students of counter- have been a closing quadruple fugue. The m o r e ove r, each individual voice is point most often study "The For t y - E i g h t "— Art of Fugue was published in open score, c o m p l e t e in itself, independent of the the preludes and fugues in all keys from with no indication of instrumentation, c o n t r a p u n t al relationships forged among the two books of Bach’s Well-Tem p e re d though it is now generally agreed that the the voices. The majority of Bach’s fugues C l a v i e r—from which each prelude and fugues were intended to played on the are in three or four voices—soprano, alto, fugue can be lifted, in whole or part, to harpsichord, and in fact (with one small tenor, and bass (reckoning from highest to reveal its own microcosm of musical logic. exception) all of the music "fits under the lowest). With the second statement, or But it is Bach’s monumental Art of hands"; in addition, it was common practice entrance, of the subject in its new voice, F u g u e that represents the gamut of his in Bach’s day to publish contrapuntal the original voice with which the fugue contrapuntal art. key b o a r d music in open score, so that b egan moves on to new material, the individual lines were easier to apprehend. c o u n t e rs u b j e c t . The subject continues to Still, it is a testament to the durability of enter until it has appeared in every voice; Bach’s music that The Art of Fugue can be this opening section of a fugue is known as The Art of Fugue rendered on any combination of the exp o s i t i o n . Past this point, it’s anyb o d y ’ s i n s t r u m e n t s without sacrificing the guess as to how the fugue will unfold, Popularly known as Bach’s fi n a l integrity of the music. but there are certain events that we work, The Art of Fugue was the last of Of all the controversies that have expect to encounter. three large-scale, monothematic wo r k s su r r o u n d e d The Art of Fugue—the intended Episodes are passages that separate with which he was occupied during the ordering of the pieces, the instrumentation— entries of the subject, and often include last ten years of his life, the other two none stirs the imagination more than the their own thematic material. Stretto occurs being the Goldberg Variations, an missing ending of the last fugue, when entrances of the subject overlap— ex p l o r a t i o n of the theme-and-variations Contrapunctus 14. Bach’s preparations for that is, the subject is stated in a second form, and the Musical Offe r i n g , an instru- the printing of The Art of Fugue were voice before a previous statement in me n t - and genre-specific set of canons and hampered by his failing eyesight, and another voice is finished, creating a sense fugues based upon a single subject. The u l t i m a t e l y interrupted by his death. The of urgency and excitement. A composer Musical Off e r i n g shares conceptual manuscript of Contrapunctus 14 was left may double the length of the subject’s note s i m i l a r i t i e s with The Art of Fugue, though incomplete, broken off literally in the values (a u g m e n t a t i o n), or halve them in scope, breadth, and integration the latter m i d d l e of a bar. This fugue develops three (d i m i n u t i o n). He may turn the subject work is on a magnificently larger scale. separate subjects, the last of which spells upside-down (inversion) or even write it From about 1740 to 1745, Bach out the composer’s surname. (In German b a c k wards (re t rog ra d e, or c a n c r i z a n) . c o m p l e t ed the majority of The Art of musical notation, the notes B-flat—A— There is no limit to when and where such F u g u e, a collection of fugues (Bach C—B-natural are spelled B—A—C—H.) contrapuntal manipulations may occur, p r e f e r r e d to use the term contrapunctus— But because none of these three subjects is the principal subject of The Art of Fugue, would serve as the concluding fugue. did not say about his art, are we the only it was assumed, first by those in Bach’s The Art of Fugue is a summary work: ones able to see the entire picture of it? circle and then by posterity, that it represents the totality of Bach’s contra- A second possibility is something Contrapunctus 14 did not even belong in puntal technique. Can we then know the Gould himself spoke of: the effects of the collection. The nineteenth-century mind of Bach by simply by examining the turning the microscope on himself. He was musicologist Gustav Nottebohm was the pages of The Art of Fugue? Did Bach reluctant to discuss his own singing, first to notice that the principal subject of a c t u a l l y create, or only discover? Would c o n d u c t i n g , and piano technique because The Art of Fugue fits in counterpoint with Bach have been able to describe the entirety to do so would raise "centipedal" questions— the three subjects of the unfinished fugue, of his own creative process? Answers to referring to the old story of the centipede and this led to the conclusion (now generally these questions lie outside the scope of who, after being asked which of its hundred accepted) that the unfinished triple fugue, this article, but bring to light the effects of legs it moved first, was unable to walk at Contrapunctus 14, is in fact an unfinished turning the microscope inward. all. This reveals the unwillingness of some quadruple fugue, which Bach intended to artists to inspect their art, for fear of be the climax of the whole work. p a r a l y z i n g themselves. Despite all of his It is not possible to know with any intellectually probative tools, Gould did certainty how that quadruple fugue would Glenn Go u l d: not w a n t to know how the machine have ended, or whether the missing ending worked. It just did. ever existed in its entirety. How eve r, The Centipede For many this is answer enough, before beginning to write a fugue in which because to go beyond it would at best be four subjects are eventually combined in Is it possible that others can know only speculation and conjecture. However, counterpoint, Bach would certainly have something about us that we do not—or with Gould there fortunately exists a body had to sketch out that combination to cannot—know about ourselves? Is this a of "evidence" unlike that for any other ensure that it wo r ked. Indeed, there is classic case of "the machine know i n g musician, for his habits of singing and t a n t a l i z i n g evidence, in the first catalogue about the machine," or is it more like the conducting while he performed offer clues of Bach’s works, published with his obituary, centipedal question? to a hidden world of musical imagery. that such a sketch once existed. Discussing The former can be illustrated with a The Art of Fugue, Bach’s son, C. P. E. short analogy from set theory. Let us take Bach, writes, "His last illness prevented everything in the universe—from galaxies him, according to his draft, from bringing and planets all the way down to sub-atomic Glenn Go u l d ’s the next-to-last fugue to completion and particles—and call it the Set Of A l l working out the last one, which was to Things, or S.O.A.T., for short. S.O.A.T. I m a g i n a ry Orch e s t r a contain four themes and to have been n ow represents ev e r y t h i n g there is to afterward inverted note for note in all four k n ow—a set, if you will, of the entire A nyone even casually acquainted voices." He seems to be talking about two u n ive r s e . If everything "inside" S.O.A.T. with Glenn Gould associates with him one fugues here: the unfinished fugue that we is the universe, then there is one thing if not all of the following idiosyncrasies: a know as Contrapunctus 14 (the "next-to- more than everything: the set itself. In squeaky chair, coats and scarves in the last" one), and some other fugue ("the last other words, you have to step outside the s u m m e r, and vocalizations while he one"), on four subjects, for which no universe to observe S.O.A.T. If we apply played. It is the latter that is much more source survived. But the two fugues were this crude analogy to Glenn Gould, we than just a quirky habit; in fact, it is the probably really the same piece. C. P. E.’s could say that S.O.A.T. is everything he key to part of Gould’s structural under- comment suggests that he may very well knew about music—structure, Bach, piano s t a n d i n g of Bach’s music. (See "Much h ave actually seen some now - m i s s i n g playing, everything. Does that mean that Ado about Humming: The Gould fragment containing the conclusion of only someone outside that set, meaning Descant" for more on this subject.) Gould Contrapunctus 14, unaware of the connection the listener, can reach certain conclusions had a habit of singing while performing, between this fragment and the fugue it about Gould that he could not reach often singing an independent melody concludes. Moreover, it seems unlikely because he was either unwilling or unable d i ff e r e n t from any of the composed parts. that Bach would have begun the process of to? If this is true, what is the nature of an This suggests that he was aware not only engraving The Art of Fugue if the music observation that only a listener can make? of the notes themselves but of a larger had not been entirely composed. Finally, This issue, though impossible to resolve, framework of background structure. In Bach’s well-known interest in numerology raises important questions about the nature order to simultaneously compose and was often focussed on the number 14—the of communication in music: Does the p e r f o r m an independent part, he must have "Bach number," since the alpha-numeric l i s t e n e r get what the performer is trying to visualized a large-scale image of the positions of the letters in his last name add express? Is the performer capable of music’s structure, an abstract conception up to 14—and it seems only fitting that objectively and comprehensively under- of themes, climaxes, form, and so on, that Contrapunctus 14 (itself imbued with the standing the totality of his or her ow n was not dependent on the tactile composer’s last name in musical notation) p e r f o r m a n c e ? Despite what Gould did and r e q u i r e m e n t s of performance. EXA M P L E 2 : The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus 1, bars 1-9, with Gould’s vocalizing transcribed on stave 3.

Example 2 shows a brief example Glenn Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of purpose they might serve. A musical from Contrapunctus 1, taken from a Genius, states that there is a connection g e s t u re might, for example, divide the p e r f o r m a n c e in the 1959 CBC radio between humming and a general with- time between articulations, or emphasize i n t e r v i ew At Home with Glenn Gould drawal from the realities of the outside a particular voice in a polyphonic tex t u r e , (recently released on CD by The Glenn world. If the "realities of the outside or mark the release of the performance’s Gould Foundation); the excerpt consists of world" include the external and audible final notes. Once such a musical function the first and second entrances of the subject. aspects of his own playing, then Gould’s has been established, we can compare it Gould begins his vocalizing by mimicking singing in performance can be interpreted to the t r a d i t i o n a l methods and meanings the subject, and he rarely did otherwise at as his unconscious attempt to cut himself of conducting. the beginning of a piece, though he did off from those realities, which inevitably A conductor’s gestures are a means of sometimes sing a simplified version of the fell short of his "wishful thinking." communicating a musical conception to primary melody. In this case, he stays with To play such difficult contrapuntal the performers. These gestures communicate the pitch D, then switches to the notes of music and sing in the manner Gould did musical characteristics such as meter, the second entrance of the subject. In bar requires a tremendous amount of intellectual dynamics, and articulation, as well as 6, he switches back to the alto, which power and skill. His ability to split his myriad subtle and indefinable characteristics. seems to make sense: that voice is more attention was not unique to his performances. The quality of a gesture is easier to ascertain active and therefore would be brought out. He often listened to several radios and than its quantity. So, if a conductor Now, if we were to stop here we could t e l ev i s i o n s at the same time, and once communicates to other performers, then conclude that Gould is simply singing while completely engaged in editing a film with whom was Gould communicating? along with the most prominent composed with Bruno Monsaingeon he simultaneously What was the na t u r e of that communication? parts. However, in bar 7 he adds two new completed the script for a new radio I contend that Gould’s conducting at the notes—B-naturals—and then sings C. At d o c u m e n t a r y, all the time commenting on piano was a means of linking the im ag i n a r y this point the alto voice moves from E to current stock trends from the newspaper. It (his conceptual image of the composition) F-sharp to G, but he stays on C, then seems that all aspects of his life were with the real (the physical requirements of c o n t i n u e s with the soprano. So he does c o n t r a p u n t a l . If Gould’s singing is a performance). And most important, it was not (and subsequently does not) simply m a n i f e s t a t i o n of his conceptual image of a an attempt to separate himself from the pick out and sing the most prominent co m p o s i t i o n ’ s structure, then the conducting physical requirements of music making parts. A shifting occurs, some kind of he exhibited as he performed may be a link and retreat into his inner world of musical c o n t ex t-dependent pressure that allow s between his mental imagery and the imagery. When Gould conducts he never him to switch voices, all the while choosing p e r f o r m a n c e of the piece. seems to be projecting an image outward; melodic activity that does not necessarily rather, he seems always to be connecting represent a composed voice. In extreme with an internalized image. cases, he creates melodic material with Examples 3 through 8 show several seemingly no place in the score. C o n d u c t i n g consistent gestures that Gould made as he What does all this mean? performed. (All six images are drawn from Perhaps Gould’s singing and gestures The first task is to diff e r e n t i a t e his performances of Contrapunctus 1 and were a means of accessing his internalized between purposeful, intentional gestures 14 in Monsaingeon’s film series Glenn image of musical structure, of detaching or motions, and those that seem random Gould Plays Bach—see the sidebar himself from the physical immediacy of or disconnected from the music; I refer to below.) Categorization is a valuable means music making. The psychiatrist Peter the former as "musical gestures." T h e of establishing consistency: if the gestures Ostwald, author of the 1997 biography second task to hypothesize what musical are consistent, then there is a greater EXA M P L E 3 : Palm down, floating in time with the first statement of the subject.

EXA M P L E 4 : A scooping gesture, with the palm facing the body, during the entrance of a second voice.

EXA M P L E 5 : Where the palm faces inward while two voices are sounding, Gould shakes his fingers to represent the active voice.

contact with balls and toys if they were t h r own toward him, but also moved his hands and fingers as though he were playing scales on the piano. Gould mentioned that his ex t r a - m u s i c a l a c t ivities at the piano were akin to "urging a reluctant cellist to play more ex p r e s s ive l y," again fostering notions of imagery. Combined with his structural understanding of the score and resulting vocalizations, the depth of his m u s i c i a ns h i p—a word that seems to be an u n d e r s t a t e m e n t— b egins to e m e rge. For Gould, all sensory fa c u l t i e s needed to be running simultaneously. It seems that these "habits" all deve l o p e d over time as a response to his musical e nvironment, rather than simply being gimmicks. The less time he spent per- EXA M P L E 9 : Gould playing Contrapunctus 14, at the point at which the "BACH" forming in public the more he could theme first enters, in Bruno Monsaingeon’s 1980 film An Art of the Fugue. concentrate on the ideal, shrinking his already low inhibitions. In other wo r d s , being a consummate communicator, chance that the corresponding cognitive after deciding to stop playing the piano, nothing could keep up with the amount image or function they represent (if any) because he felt that the physical require- of information and meaning Gould wa s can be identified. To be sure, Gould never ments of conducting interfered with trying to express. It was as though eve r y did something twice in exactly the same piano playing. The techniques of con- aspect of a piece of music forced its wa y way, but these basic categories of gesture ducting were not foreign to him. He out of him, manifested in his playing, could be classified as valid "more often conducted on a few occasions in the late singing, conducting, radio documen- than not." There was a seventh consistent 1950s and early 1960s, though in his taries, essays, and alter- egos. He did not gesture, incidentally, that is impossible later years he had no intention of con- so much c re a t e a collection of habits as to convey in a still photograph: a circular, ducting in public, only for recordings. stop s u p p re s s i n g them from emerg i n g , rotating motion of the upper torso at He had no formal training as a c o n d u c t o r, and so allow them to flourish. It wa s the key b o a r d . but seemingly exhibited conductor- p r e c i s e l y when these elements came Gould considered starting a conduct- l i ke traits from birth. His father noted together that Gould was able to arrive at i n g c a r e e r, but was willing to do so only that as a child Glenn not only avo i d e d the "ecstatic" ex p e r i e n c e . EXA M P L E 6 : Sweeping gestures to indicate phrasing.

EXA M P L E 7 : The body leans closer to the piano once both hands are on the keyboard.

EXA M P L E 8 : A gesture accompanying the release of a composition’s final note that has been held by the pedal.

of innerness." Gould purposefully sought Do I contradict myself? E cs t a s y out this ideal state, striving to bring Very well then I contradict myself. together all of the elements necessary to (I am large, I contain multitudes.) a c h i eving it, be they env i r o n m e n t a l , Ecstasy was a notion that Gould spoke —Walt Whitman t e c h n i c a l , pianistic, or whatever—in other about extensively. As Geoffrey Payzant words, ecstasy was possible only when wrote, in Glenn Gould, Music and Mind, everything comes together. And perhaps There are those moments in the history "Gould uses the term ‘ecstasy’ i n d i s c r i m- there is no greater example of "things of music when special circumstances give inately for a quality of the music, a quality coming together" than Gould’s performance rise to unforgettable performances, when of the performance, an attitude of the of Contrapunctus 14 in Bruno nature and nurture conspire to create the p e r f o r m e r, and an attitude of the listener. M o n s a i n g e o n ’s 1980 film An Art of best of all possible worlds. Just such a But his lack of discrimination is intentional, the Fugue. moment occurs near the end of An Art of and is the essence of Gould’s meaning: the Fugue (see Example 9). Though The that ‘ecstasy’ is a delicate thread binding Goldberg Variations was Gould’s last film, together music, performance, performer 1 4 An Art of the Fugue is the last visual and listener in a web of shared awareness C o n t r apunctus

EXA M P L E 1 0 : The end of the unfinished Contrapunctus 14, in Bach’s compositional draft. EXA M P L E 1 1 : Contrapunctus 14, mm. 191-212, with the entrance of the "BACH" subject indicated. (Reproduced from Gould’s own annotated score of The Art of Fugue, held among his papers in the Music Division of the National Library of Canada.) record of Gould performing a fugue, and it statement, summarizing his life’s wo r k Edition (number 218), in which happened to be Bach’s final fugue, the in the genre—that gave him pause about Contrapunctus 14 is brought to an end a unfinished Contrapunctus 14 from The Art his own life and work, confronting him f ew bars earlier than in the autograph of Fugue (see Example 10). Gould was with notions of finality and mortality. m a n u s c r i p t , in an attempt to give it a more "terrified" of this piece, stating that it was For those who have not seen the fi l m harmonically conclusive ending. It seems the most difficult thing he had eve r version of Contrapunctus 14, there is a ironic that Gould, who was known for his approached, and that it was "the most sense of withdrawal and devotion unlike attention to detail, played from an edition beautiful thing in all of music." Fo r a ny other Gould performance, mating that was incomplete, leaving us with an s o m e o n e of Gould’s ability, the piece did perfectly with the severity and intensity incomplete performance of an incomplete not represent a significant phy s i c a l of the composition. As Gould puts it in fugue. Monsaingeon has said that Gould c h a l l e n g e ; rather, it was an intellectual the film, was not bothered by such details, that any and perhaps spiritual challenge. "You’ve edition of the score would do—a seeming got to keep it going—how do you do there are moments in The Art of Fugue that are contradiction. But remember, this comes that?" he asked prior to the shoot, in a much more valuable than its virtuosity, from the same pianist who would spend c o nversation with Monsaingeon. He moments for me that absolutely surpass all that hours on the exact placement of micro- explained that he had three distinctly Bach wrote. I really can’t think of music that phones and would tinker with the action of d i ff e r e n t approaches to the piece, though moves me more deeply than that last fugue, and his piano in order to optimize its tone, and in the end it was decided that a slow and not just because of the emotional associations yet sat on a squeaky chair when recording. co n t e m p l a t i ve performance would be best. we inevitably bring to it, not just because he And the same pianist who felt that It seems peculiar for Gould (who died leaving it incomplete—literally in the Mozart "died too late rather than too middle of a bar—already enormously long as it Monsaingeon describes as "the most early" and yet proceeded to record all of was. It’s really because that final fugue has a c o n fi d e n t pianist I have ever seen") to that composer’s sonatas. sense of peace…that I think even for Bach is h ave had reservations or second really overwhelming. Examples 11 and 12 s h ow two thoughts about performing any Bach d o c u m e n t s of Gould’s preparation for piece, but p e r h a ps it was what this piece recording Contrapunctus 14: an excerpt r e p r e s e n t s— B a c h ’s ultimate contrapuntal For this performance Gould used the Peters from his annotated score, and his sketch of harmonies and entrances of the subject for up to A. Instead, Bach creates a new sec- the whole fugue. The score contains some ondary leading tone by introducing a D- markings relating to the editing of the sharp, which resolves up to E, and thus he film, others of a more musical nature. fo r ges a rising line in the tenor voice, start- More often than not, Gould preferred to ing in bar 196: C-sharp—D—D-sharp—E. memorize a score before he performed it; (H a r m o n i c a l l y , bars 196-201 imply the root that way, he was not pinned down to the m ovement A — D — B — E — A — D — G , written page and could operate from the tr a velling through a large portion of the cir- ideal state of his imagination. cle of fifths.) Hearing the D-natural and D- Because he rarely wrote analyses of sharp in isolation, we might take issue with the pieces he played (a task left to his Ba c h ’ s voice leading; howe ver , the over a l l prodigious, multi-tasking intellect), we arc of this passage is unquestionably sound. may take this example as further evidence This case may seem trivial given the of Gould’s coming to terms with the m a g n i t u d e of the entire fugue, but it does m a g n i t u d e of Contrapunctus 14, but the of fer more evidence of Gould’s composer- question of why he did it remains. In fac t , li k e approach to the score. Perhaps no one Glenn Gould and The Art of Fugue Gould remarks to Monsaingeon in the fil m performed Bach like Gould because no one that there is a "mistake in contrapuntal understood Bach like Gould. The following list includes all Gould grammar" in the opening bars of the third As the "BACH" section of p e r f o r m a n c e s from Bach’s Art of Fugue (" B ACH") section, and that, "had he lived , Contrapunctus 14 begins, Gould’s focus that have been released to the public in I’m sure he would have fix ed it." Gould seems to be as far away from the physical some form, in chronological order, with does not reveal the exact location of this immediacy of the piano as possible, as if information on the most readily available "m i s t a k e," but his annotated score may the instrument is not even there, or is current releases. All performances are on pr ov i d e a clue. In bar 197 (the seventh bar merely a passive observer of the intense the piano unless otherwise noted. of Example 11) he circled the pitch D in music making that is occurring. Each > Contrapunctus 1 , 2, and 4, performed the alto. I am only speculating, but he may c o n t r a p u n t a l voice is accounted for: if as encores at Gould’s lecture-recital at the ha ve been concerned with the D—G- Gould is not singing it, then he is conducting M o s c ow Conserva t o r y, 12 May 1957. sharp tritone; perhaps he expected the D to it. As the end draws near, his eyes seem (CD release: Harmonia Mundi/Le Chant re s o l v e down to C as the G-sharp resolves almost to glaze over as he circles in his du Monde LDC 278.799, 1986, licensed from Melodiya in the U.S.S.R.)

> Contrapunctus 1, performed in the National Film Board of Canada documen- tary Glenn Gould: Off the Record, released 1959. This is the only known document of Gould playing his beloved Ch i c k ering baby- grand piano at his fam i l y ’ s cottage on Lake Simcoe, near Uptergr o ve, Ontario. (The film is available on videotape and DVD from the NFB, though this performance has ne ver been released as a recording.)

> Contrapunctus 4, and an excerpt from Contrapunctus 1, performed in At Home with Glenn Gould, an interview with Vincent Tovell broadcast 4 December 1959 in the CBC radio series Project 60. (CD release: Sony Music Entertainment (Canada), CDNK 1190, produced in coöperation with the CBC and The Glenn Gould Foundation, in 1996, to celebrate the anniversary of the Friends of Glenn Gould society.) EXA M P L E 1 2 : Gould’s analysis of all three sections of Contrapunctus 14, written on one of the legal pads that kept on his desk throughout his later years. (Reproduced > Contrapunctus 1 through 9, performed from Gould’s papers in the Music Division of the National Library of Canada: on the organ, recorded and released in Writings, 20, 8, pages 5-6.) 1962, on Columbia ML 5738/MS 6338. This album was labelled "Volume 1" of The Art of Fugue, but Gould never did record Volume 2. (CD release: Sony Classical, Glenn Gould Edition, SK 52595, 1997.)

> Contrapunctus 4, performed on the "harpsi-piano," in Glenn Gould on Bach, broadcast on CBC television, S u n d a y Music Series, 8 April 1962. (Video and laserdisc release: Sony Classical, Glenn Gould Collection, Vol. 8, Interweaving Voices, SHV 48412, 1992.)

> Contrapunctus 9, 11, and 13, in Glenn Gould in Recital, a broadcast in the radio series CBC Tuesday Night, 23 November 1967. (CD release: Sony Classical, Glenn Gould Edition, SK 52595, 1997.)

> Excerpt from Contrapunctus 3, per- formed on the organ in John McGreevy’s 1979 film Glenn Gould’s Toronto, part of his series Cities. (Not yet available as a commercial video.)

> Contrapunctus 1, performed in Bruno Monsaingeon’s 1979 film The Question of Instrument, Part 1 of his series Glenn Gould Plays Bach. (Video and laserdisc release: Sony Classical, Glenn Gould Collection, Vol. 14, SHV 48425, 1994.)

EXA M P L E 1 3 : The final moments of Contrapunctus 14, in Bruno Monsaingeon’s 1980 > Contrapunctus 2, 4, and 14, and an film An Art of the Fugue. excerpt from Contrapunctus 9, performed in Bruno Monsaingeon’s 1980 film An Art of the Fugue, Part 2 of his series Glenn chair, staring off into the distance, wholly said) "some truth to tell." Gould’s per- Gould Plays Bach. (Video and laserdisc absorbed by the last earthly expression of f o r m a n c e is so personal, so intense, that it release: Sony Classical, Glenn Gould B a c h ’s contrapuntal masterpiece, tran- is almost uncomfortable to wa t c h , Collection, Vol. 15, SHV 48426, 1994.) s c e n d i n g the ecstatic ideal. The man e s p e c i a l l y coming from a man who becomes a vessel for the music, existing guarded his privacy so fiercely. Despite Nancy Canning’s discography, A Glenn for its own sake, and frozen forever in all the barriers he put up in his personal Gould Catalog, published in 1992, lists a time as the final notes ring out; Gould life, he invited us into the most protected recorded performance of Contrapunctus 4 hurls his left arm up into the air and the and cherished areas of his spirit each time (presumably an encore) taken from a live frame is frozen (see Example 13). he performed. Each time, unfolded before CBC radio broadcast of Gould’s appearance During the e d i t i n g sessions for the fi l m , us, was his secret and sacred flight with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, he was bothered by this image, interpret- through Bach’s universe, passing effort- on 16 December 1956. This recording ing it as a premonition of death. He was lessly through the maze of his design, apparently survives among the Gould right again. each fugue a microcosm of his own life, a papers in the Music Division of the I can think of no other performer and commentary on the contrapuntal ideal, National Library of Canada, though it has no other performance that so embodies and a search for the elusive ecstatic never been released in any form. Other of the mysterious, ineffable art of fugue as experience. Perhaps, then, Glenn Gould’s Go u l d ’ s concert performances of selections Gould’s film of Contrapunctus 14. Like legacy offers us something much more from The Art of Fugue may well have Bach in the last years of his life, this significant than simply a collection of been privately recorded, either live or p e rformance represents the end of a life- recordings, essays, and scarves (and a from CBC broadcasts, though none have long inner journey, with Gould emerging s q u e a ky chair): a revelation of the a r t yet come to light. on the other side with (as Tim Page once of fugue.