Full Description
The enigmatic character of The Art of Fugue became apparent as early as in its first edition, printed more than a year after the composer's death. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who published both the first and the second editions, raised several unsolved questions regarding this opus. Anatoly P Milka presents a consistent and coherent solution to the unresolved questions about the history, structure and appearance of J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue, opening new perspectives for further exploration of this musical masterpiece. Milka challenges the present scholarly consensus that there exist two different versions of The Art of Fugue (the Autograph and the Original Edition) and argues that Bach had considered four versions, of which only two are apparent and have been discussed so far. Only Bach's illness and death prevented him from fulfilling his plan and publishing a fourth, conclusive version of his opus.
Contents
List of Figures List of Schemes List of Tables List of Musical Examples List of Abbreviations Notes on Contributors Preface Introduction Part I: Toward the History of the Conception 1. The Last Decade 2. On the Conception of The Art of Fugue 3. Bach's Illness and the Changes in his Handwriting Part II: The Principal Documents: the Autograph and the Original Edition 4. The Autograph 5. The Original Edition Part III: J.S. Bach's work on The Art of Fugue 6. The versions in Bach's music 7. The First Version of The Art of Fugue 8. The Second Version 9. Toward the Third Version 10. The Third Version 11. The Fourth Version Part IV: C.P.E. Bach's work toward the publication of The Art of Fugue 12. Settings, Attitudes and Circumstances 13. Sequencing and Titles in the Original Edition 14. The History of the 1752 Edition Part V: Toward a New Interpretation of The Art of Fugue 15. The title page as a 'Letters and Numbers Game' and The Question of Authorship 16. Contrapunctur 5 17. Myths about the Canon in Augmentation 18. The Autograph of the Last Fugue: an Unfinished Copy? 19. "Over This Fugue..." 20. Revelation (Instead of an Epilogue) Bibliography Index
