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Historical Anthology - The Bach Guild 

Period V: THE BAROQUE (Late)
Category F: Johann Sebastian Bach
Sub-category 1: Works for Keyboard
Musicological Advisor: Martin Bernstein,
  Prof. Emeritus of Music,
  New York University

Sources: Autograph in Berlin Deutsche
  Staatsbibliothek, Mus. Ms. Bach P200,1749-50.
  In notes below, Gr. indicates W. Graeser,
  Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzig, 1927; D. indicates
  Hans T. David, Peters, Leipzig, 1928.
Editions: Prepared by Gustav Leonhardt

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

                              ART OF FUGUE

CD I

01.Simple Fugue(Gr.I, D.I)                         5:11

02.Simple Fugue—theme inverted             3:30
     (Gr.III, D.II)

03.Simple Fugue(Gr.II, D.III)                     3:37

04.Simple Fugue—theme inverted             7:26
     (Gr.IV, D.IV)
05.Fugue in contrary motion (Gr.V, D.IX)   4:07

06.Double Fugue in the 12th (Gr.IX, D.VI) 2:48

07.Double Fugue in the 10th (Gr.X, D.VII) 5:15
08.Fugue in contrary motion, with             4:06 
    diminution (Gr.VI, D.Χ)
09.Canon in the 10th (Gr.XIV, D.VIII)         6:38
10.Fugue in contrary motion,                     5:08
     with double augmentation (Gr.VII, D.ΧI)
11.Canon in the 12th (Gr.X111, D.V)          1:58

TT: 49:56

CD II
 
01.Canon in the octave (Gr.XII, D.XII)       2:31

02.Triple Fugue—three voice                     5:46
     (Gr.VI11, D.XIII)
03.Triple Fugue—four voice (Gr.XI, D.XIV)  6:47
04.Canon in contrary motion,                    3:18
     by augmentation (Gr.XV, D. XV)
05.Mirror Fugue (Gr.XVIIIa., D. XVI)           3:04
06.Mirror Fugue—inverse of 05                  3:12
     (Gr.XVIIIb., D. XVII)
07.Mirror Fugue (Gr.XVI a., D.XVIII)           2:39

08.Mirror Fugue—inverse of 07                  2:42
     (Gr. XVIb., D.XIX)
09.Unfinished Fugue, on BACH                   6:46
     (Cr. XIX, D. XX) 

TT: 37:00

Gustav Leonhardt, harpsichord

Producer. Seymour Solomon
Engineer Mario Mizzaro
Digital Remastering: David Baker
Art Direction: Fred Holtz
© & © 1993 Omega Record Group, Inc.
27 W. 72nd Street, New York, NY 1(()23 Printed in USA
REMASTERED USING B & W MATRIX 801 LOUDSPEAKERS

THE HISTORICAL ANTHOLOGY

The Historical Anthology systematically explores and codifies the masterworks of Western music from before the rise of the concert hall, by classifying the works according to time period, category, and sub¬category, as listed below. A separate grouping, Classification VIII, crosses periods and national boundaries to ilrustrate the development of musical forms and of writing for specific instruments. The classifications were planned by Martin Bernstein (Professor Emeritus of Music, New York University). The selection of each recording was based on two criteria: the musicological importance of the repertoire and the intrinsic beauty of the recorded performance. Original scorings were followed and authentic instruments used when possible.
Each compact disc has been made to the highest standards of reproduction, meticulously transferred to the digital domain employing the same type of tape recorder as that on which the masters were originally recorded. Especially designed playback heads and modified low noise electronics, as well as the very same alignment tapes and frequency response curves employed at the original recording sessions, have been utilized in order to ensure the widest signal-to-noise ratio and the greatest dynamic range. All recordings originally made with Ampex 300 series vacuum tube (valve) master recorders have been transferred using carefully restored Ampexes, thus retaining the unique analogue 'golden glow' sound characteristic of these machines.
Illuminating annotations by musicological authorities, as well as full texts with translations for vocal works, are included. Furthermore, the organization of the series makes it especially useful as a guide for a basic, permanent collection for individuars as well as libraries and educational institutions.
                                                                         —Seymour Solomon, Executive Producer

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

The Kunst der Fugue, or "Art of Fugue," is the masterpiece of Johann Sebastian Bach's (1685-1750) last years. Bach finished it in a first version, now known as the "Berlin Autograph." He then decided to revise and expand the music, and engrave it for publication, but died leaving unfinished a colossal fugue, in which a theme made up of the letters of his name entered as the third subject.
The engraving was completed and the work published by Bach's sons, in 1750 or 1751, in a somewhat jumbled form. In 1752 it was published again with a preface and lowing appreciation by the leading German musical scholar, FW. Marpurg, who said, ' In this work are contained the most hidden beauties possible to the art of music." But the tastes of the times were changing. As Forkel, Bach's first biographer, wrote in 1802, "This work of Bach's was nevertheless too high for the great world; it was forced to withdraw into the small world inhabited by a few connoisseurs. This small world was soon provided with copies; the plates lay unused, and were at length sold by the heirs as old copper."
During the 19th century, the Kunst der Fuge was published in piano versions by Czerny and others, but little performed, though in the 20th century, with the increasing interest in Bach's work, the work gained appreciation. Several instrumental arrangements were published, including an orchestration by Graeser which used "romantic" orchestration, one by Vuataz employing an orchestra somewhat closer to that of Bach's practice, and versions for string orchestra and string quartet. Because the work was written in open score, with no indication of any instrumentation, these musicians believed it could be taken up by any instruments.
Our century, however, has seen an increasing knowledge of Bach's musical style and the entire Baroque era, the instruments used, and of the ornamentation and manner of performance that throws an entirely new light on this music. The present recording of the Kunst der Fuge represents the fruit of these explorations. Gustav M. Leonhardt was, for some years, drawn to the special problem of this masterpiece of Bach's late years. The result of his study is contained both in this performance and in a monograph, The Art of Fugue—Bach's Last Harpsichord Work: An Argument (Ma rtinus Nijhoff, The Hague,1952). Mr. Leonhardt's argument that this is a harpsichord work is based on several points. In brief, first, it was a known practice in both the 17th and early 18th centuries to publish keyboard works in open score, especially those with a complex polyphony. Examples are cited from Scheidt, Frescobaldi, Froberger and Maichelbeck. Second, the range of none of the orchestral or ensemble instruments, as Bach used them, corresponds to the range of any of the voices of the Kunst der Fuge. Bach, in writing for instrumental ensemble, was always a master instrumentalist, and none of the characteristic melodic "shapes" of his ensemble instrumental writing is found here. Third, the fugue types are not those of his ensemble instrumental fugues, whereas they are very definitely the fugue types of his keyboard works, as in "The Well-tempered Clavier." Mr. Leonhardt shows that there is a striking optical resemblance between the fugues in this work and those of the "Well-tempered Clavier," where the latter are written out in open score. The fugues also have the same "hidden homophony" of Bach's other keyboard fugues. Furthermore, everything in the Kunst der Fuge is within easy reach of two hands. Bach made alterations so that it would be more playable on the keyboard. The fact that there is no continuo bass supporting the entrance of the voices would also make these fugues different from those of Bach's ensemble and orchestral style. The fact that the bass voice sometimes rises above the tenor, with the tenor becoming the real bass, indicates to Mr. Leonhardt that the bass part was not meant to be doubled at 16-foot pitch, which would eliminate the organ from consideration. Thus, disregarding the limited clavichord, the harpsichord becomes the logical instrument, and Mr. Leonhardt concludes, "The Art of Fugue has been written with an extraordinary knowledge of the technical possibilities of ten fingers on a keyboard. The work does not only show Bach on his immense creative height, but also as the grandiose master of the keyboard."

Structure of the Kunst der Fuge, and Order of the Fugues

The Kunst der Fuge may be described as a colossal set of fugue variations, consisting of fifteen fugues and four canons, all built on the same basic "motto" theme. Of the fifteen fugues, four are "mirror" fugues (a fugue followed by its mirror image). To this is added a great unfinished fugue, in which the name BACH (B flat - A - C - B natural) appears as the third theme. The fugues are of every variety. There are simple, double, and triple fu es, fugues with the answer in contrary motion, fugues in double counterpoint, fugues in which the theme appears in both diminution and augmentation, fugues in which all three or four parts are in contrary motion to each other.
For the order of the fugues, Mr. Leonhardt has followed the "Berlin Autograph," Bach's earlier version of the work. To this he has added the fugue and two canons numbered here as 4, 9, and 11, which are not found in the earlier manuscript but belong to the work as Bach planned it and are found in the later version. Where to place these is an open question, and the order chosen is, in Leonhardt's words, one "of many possibilities. The placing chosen here conceives the work as a great symmetrical structure, the nineteen fugues and canons divided into five main sections of 4-4-3-4-4, each of which is also a symmetrical structure; the great unfinished fugue concludes the performance. For the musical texts of the fugues, Mr. Leonhardt follows the edition of 1750 or 1751, which was put out by Bach's sons. Otherwise, however, this 1750 edition is, as Spitta describes it, 'in dreadful disorder," with duplications and additions that obviously do not belong in the work.
The Kunst der Fuge may be considered one whole work of continuity and development. The main subject, presented in each of the fugues, is worked out simply in the first fugue, but even this first fugue attains great power and beauty. In the first group of four fugues, the motive is answered in 'French style" dotted rhythm. The work builds as Bach inverts the subject and creates a sense of yearning; the subject is again modified, appearing in natural time and in augmentation and diminution. The texture, feeling, and-structure become more complex as new independent themes are used along with the main subject. The climax is reached in two great triple fugues, one in three voices and one in four, flanked by two canons. Then come the two sets of "mirror fugues." Spitta comments, "From a technical point of view, they exhibit Bach on a dizzy pinnacle of eminence. At a height where existence would be an impossibility to others'', he breathes with ease and freedom."
Both Bach's sons and Marpurg, in their respective editions of Kunst der Fuge, overemphasized the didactic elements of the work, such as "teaching how to waste fugues,' in the hope that this would help sell the work. As a result, the myth has clung to it through modern times that it is an abstract work of instruction in fugue writing. Yet it is a work of art in fugue form, not a set of craft lessons. Its dualism, a combination of refinement and spintual qualities, Mr. Leonhardt writes, "gives this great music its gripping, even frightening, atmosphere."

The Great Unfinished Fugue

The colossal unfinished fugue is here placed at the end. It may be called a sketch, since it is quite possible that Bach would have not only finished it but revised it. Yet it is music of the greatest beauty, and its sudden breaking off is almost unbearable. It moves through three great fugal sections, each on a new subject, the third of these being the B A C H motif. The entry of Bach's name, and the poignant working out of it, give the music almost an autobiographical quality. For a long time it was believed not even to belong to theplan of the work, since the main subject developed throughout the Kunst der Fuge does not appear in it. But Nottebohm has discovered that this main subject combines with the other themes of this great unfinished fugue so perfectly that it may be said to have been implied by them. In other words, what Bach planned was a great crowning quadruple fugue, in which the fourth entry would be the main subject, in combination with the other three.

Style of Performance—Ornaments and Rhythm

Mr. Leonhardt has devoted long study to the problem of the ornaments to be used in performance of Bach and other Baroque composers. As he writes, 'The early 18th century was in Germany not careful in noting down the ordinary ornaments, these belonging to the domain of the performer . . . The omission of ornaments was regarded as a sign of clumsiness and dullness." These ornaments consisted of trills, appogiaturas, and in some cases, little connecting cadenzas. While to some extent the particular ornamentation depends on the taste of the performer, the specific ornaments and how they were to be used are amply described in the literature of the mid-18th century, as in William Friedemann Bach. Also important is the question of rhythm. In music of the early 18th century, whenever a dotted rhythm or a long note was grouped with one or two following short notes, the long note was held longer than written, and the short notes played as quickly as possible. This is amply testified to by writings of J. J. Quantz, W. Marpurg, and C.P.E. Bach, as well as by examples of Bach's own music, where in some cases he writes out exactly how such rhythms are to be performed. Mr. Leonhardt's performance of Contrapunctus VI, m this set, with its "French style" rhythms, is an example of this manner of handling the music. Such is the difficult and exacting pathway to a correct performance of Bach's works, and of the Kunst der Fuge in particular.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

At an early age the eminent keyboard artist Gustav Leonhardt, born in 1928 in Holland, entered the select circle of brilliant instrumentalists and scholars of Baroque music. In his student years in Holland, Switzerland, and Austria, he won the highest honors both for musicology and performance on the harpsichord and organ. He is one of the acknowledged European masters of authentic Baroque ornamentation and improvisatory style. His international tours cross the globe and he continues to record prolifically; his discography includes several other major works for Vanguard Classics.
This interpretation has a special historic importance, since it was recorded in Vienna in May, 1953, immediately following Mr. Leonhardt's performances of this masterpiece in London's Wigmore Hall, the Brahmssaal in Vienna, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Mr. Leonhardt was 25 years of age when he accomplished this tour de force. He was also already a professor of harpsichord and musicology at the Academy of Music in Vienna, dividing his time between Vienna and the Conservatory in Amsterdam, where he also taught.
In the spirit of the old musician-artisans, Mr. Leonhardt is also an expert on the construction and design of the harpsichord and Baroque organ. For this recording, Mr. Leonhardt selected a Neupert harpsichord made in Bamberg, Germany.

RECORDED MAY, 1953, IN VIENNA; ORIGINALLY RELEASED AS BG 532/3