J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

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At this point one might have expected the fugue that follows to return to the comforting orthodoxy of the Handelian style in which he was brought up (as do those in contemporary sonatas by Pinto, Philip Cogan, and G. A. Kollmann), or perhaps an exercise in strict Bachian counterpoint. Instead it represents one of his most ambitious attempts to employ the rapidly growing range of early-Romantic devices and textures. To be sure, there is little sign of this during the first quarter of the movement which, if not quite preserving the integrity of the voices in an authentically Bachian manner (neither was Handel usually overly concerned with this in his keyboard fugues), is consistently and earnestly contrapuntal. A few strange dissonances (bb.22-23, 26-28, 34) suggest not so much J. S. Bach himself as Muzio Clementi’s attempts to imitate him, 116 as does the unrelenting busyness of the counterpoint (see the comments above). But these are only details, and the fugue sticks admirably to the point through seven entries of the subject, going no further afield than the mediant (b.30) and the subdominant (b.38). Things begin to take an unexpected turn around b.47 as preparation is made for a sizeable cadence in the slightly unusual key of C major. Everything is disrupted in b.50 by an entry in C minor, in octaves, completely interrupting both normal tonal and contrapuntal procedures (Ex.2.32): Normality returns as the music moves through F minor back to the more familiar regions of F and B flat major (although F major predominates, there is no sense of ‘second subject’ or secondary tonal area being established). Once interrupted, the contrapuntal texture is harder to restore. Fragmentary entries in fairly consistent three- or four-part counterpoint (bb.62-68, 76-82) alternate with sonata-like passage work (bb.69-75, 90- 95). At times, octave doubling reinforces important motives in a very un-Baroque 116 For more on Clementi’s fugues, see pp.367-72 below. Although he was an acquaintance of Clementi, it is unlikely that Wesley had come across any of them before writing this piece. Some had been published many years earlier in France (opp.5 and 6, 1781), but Clementi’s next publication to include fugues was the first part of his Gradus ad Parnassum which did not appear until 1827. There are a number of similarities in details of part-writing, but this is presumably merely a consequence of both starting from a similar point and trying to achieve a similar end. 188
manner (bb.77-78, 84-86). Travelling through the cycle of fifths the music arrives at E flat major (b.96) then continues even further flatward, to A flat and F minor. Unexpectedly F major reasserts itself (b.112) in a sweet little passage that might have come out of one of Mendelssohn’s Lieder ohne Wörte and quickly takes us back to the tonic, where we have another entry in octaves (Ex.2.33). 189
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WRESTLING WITH THE GERMAN DEVIL: FI
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ABSTRACT ‘After’ can be taken b
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many peo
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INTRODUCTION ‘Every hearer enjoys
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esponse was: ‘the fugue is no lon
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instrumental fugues of Joseph Haydn
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world of their own. The study concl
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facts and the ‘soft technology’
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DEFINING FUGUE But what are they? W
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elow). For how many voices or parts
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indeed a complete counter-expositio
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on two pitches throughout, tonic an
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already become the historicising na
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Catholic tradition, but Albrechtsbe
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the texture as a whole coincides in
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kind experimentalism of Samuel Wesl
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The clearest sign of things to come
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Perhaps a clue can be found in the
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CHAPTER 1 THE CIRCLE OF J. S. BACH
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FINE DISTINCTIONS (1): MISATTRIBUTE
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sounding object, nothing has change
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Mendelssohn, Schumann, Spitta, Wido
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pieces are known from a single copy
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very good; and the ends of both mov
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ever, could have written it?’ 23
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incorrectly prepared suspended four
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has a number of doubtful features.
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einforces them. Its texture is impo
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of thinking over long spans.’ 44
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W. F. Bach and Krebs have always en
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the equitable distribution of his e
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slender volumes, including many pie
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In style (there is no particular th
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and it is the least comfortable bit
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voices inverted, and serve the purp
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each line in a polyphonic texture a
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If its general type is old, however
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thematic material. The subject coul
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Karl Geiringer makes an almost emba
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prolix F minor fugue, the expressiv
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Kittel, and Krebs himself. 76 Inevi
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[that] a keyboard composer can and
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Ex.1.12b shows the start of a fugue
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Egypt) did not prevent him from bei
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The very slow harmonic rhythm, howe
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If not inimitably characteristic, t
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As we saw in the first part of this
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subject is also expansive; it too c
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to expand and elaborate the surface
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The significance of this sort of st
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By the time the halfway point is re
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‘originality’—of historical p
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to follow in his father’s footste
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CHAPTER 2 J. S. BACH IN LONDON: CON
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of the mark. 4 Handel’s influence
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that would perpetuate his oratorios
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—also remained strongly Handelian
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118
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in the Overture to Alcina (1735). A
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Root-movement is quite unpredictabl
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124
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Superficially they have much in com
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situations; but his influence outla
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130
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ounded too closely by early Methodi
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At first the real focus of attentio
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surprisingly grammatical, confirmin
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Page 140 and 141: the subject (where again he seems n
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Page 148 and 149: The ending is rather curious: he re
Page 150 and 151: hectic week, he could choose betwee
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Page 154 and 155: even have had an informal agreement
Page 156 and 157: Unlike Handel, however, there no tu
Page 158 and 159: Throughout the nineteenth century t
Page 160 and 161: Here, however (especially once the
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Page 164 and 165: published separately over the next
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Page 168 and 169: Likewise does the fugue subject of
Page 170 and 171: A little more Bach can be seen, per
Page 172 and 173: attitudes were representative, or e
Page 174 and 175: consciously parodying his Methodist
Page 176 and 177: his nature to be exclusive about an
Page 178 and 179: elieve) in German, the compleatly w
Page 180 and 181: no other way one could hear operas,
Page 182 and 183: a stretto treatment (at one minim
Page 184 and 185: have had a rich Treat in chewing th
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Page 190 and 191: This is soon accompanied by quaver
Page 192 and 193: The C minor entry in b.50 destabili
Page 194 and 195: WESLEY’S LAST YEARS During this p
Page 196 and 197: Wilhelm Friedemann (see chapter 1).
Page 198 and 199: describes it well: ‘The concertan
Page 200 and 201: with sixteen-part orchestra’ (Car
Page 202 and 203: would be of interest to a budding c
Page 204 and 205: wrestling with the problem of integ
Page 206 and 207: Clearly, Haydn is letting fugal thi
Page 208 and 209: By contrast, the fugue which closes
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Page 218 and 219: place, socially and musically; and
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Page 222 and 223: The distinction that Kirkendale dre
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Page 230 and 231: Note the extent to which Haydn’s
Page 232 and 233: A clear example of this can be seen
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appears not wholly to satisfy Kirke
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Junker and others were neither part
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sentimental’ (c.1814?), Haydn’s
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intensity of the debate? This is ho
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is an almost perfect instrument for
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CHAPTER 4 MOZART, FINISHED AND UNFI
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as such—at times even creating th
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thought and practice until very rec
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sonata movement sets up certain exp
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organ music: from the death of J. S
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(to us) the direct influence of J.
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and back without a sign that anythi
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is not necessarily at variance with
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conclusion is not perfectly in acco
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there can be no doubt that Mozart,
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to enclose your letter to me?’ 35
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The Dean was in a state of great ex
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‘passive’ voices; Ex.4.5 shows
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274
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276
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against itself, augmented and inver
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Andante also found favour, but part
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enewed application to this task. Wh
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for a child of twelve. The subject
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These masses mark the two poles of
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After this exposition the cadential
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is a much less dramatic tale, of ca
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happened, on October 26 1783 at Ben
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the voices. There is a single expos
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ascending, descending (or both), st
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298
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(apart from particella for wind and
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up to Mozart’s standard, the melo
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weight than Süssmayr’s say-so. B
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crisis [Lebenskrise] from which, in
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all, please few with counterpoint a
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of much that was excellent’. 3 In
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continually surpass his own creativ
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This ethical approach to music, so
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Like Mozart, Beethoven was a great
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There are a few reasonably complete
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It is, in part, a question of autho
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voice ‘Parthie’, an oboe concer
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although it is in a different key;
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which had such a similar subject (E
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328
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his early life is there a single re
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‘Metaphorically, Beethoven was al
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On the other hand, whilst there is
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of a sort that has if anything tend
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To thus posit ‘lateness’ about
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historical development; 61 all thes
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These critics were not necessarily
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could anyone have expected that Bee
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hear it more often. Well, once more
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development came the flood of ‘mu
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Sometimes, it is just noise, in the
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At times, so eccentric are his text
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eighteenth century; and however muc
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Carpani; from the time he entered E
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His opp.1bis, 5, and 6, however, (p
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360
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nineteenth century—the style of H
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364
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movement. There is no danger of irr
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time, whereas the glory of many a B
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On the other hand, the tonal range
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It is with some surprise that we he
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A canon at the fourth below, ‘we
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Clementi. In this respect the issue
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turns out to be none other than our
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None of these, in any case, remotel
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traditional form.’ 125 Weber expr
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Arioso into the rest of the movemen
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eturned by b.248. On the other hand
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grise, it nevertheless exerts consi
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century fugal writing more satisfac
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CONCLUSION ‘Like most other disci
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from Fux to Haydn to Bruckner was n
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were written for the organ. 7 While
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prelude/fugue pair. Perhaps rather
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practice is less concerned with the
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Baroque, but did so subtly, without
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periodicity and its fluctuating ton
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eauty with ‘an excess of art.’
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(op.35/1) is a model of textural co
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410
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inhospitable to fugue.’ 30 To the
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W. F. Bach, Fugue in F minor BRA 88
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Exx.2.11-13 S. Wesley, ‘4 Fugues
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Chapter 4 Mozart, finished and unfi
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ed. Joseph Joachim and Andreas Mose
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BIBLIOGRAPHY [anon.] ‘The organ r
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Beethoven, Ludwig van, The letters
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Brown, Clive, ‘Perspectives on Be
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______ Beethoven (Oxford: Oxford Un
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zu Köln 1998, 315-321. ______ and
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Fisk, Josiah, ‘Classical music an
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______ ‘The “Grosse Fuge”: an
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1967). Horowitz, Joseph, ‘Mozart
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______ Fugue and fugato in Rococo a
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und ihrer frühen Rezeption’, Arc
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(1991). MacArdle, Donald W., ‘Bee
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contrappunto sopra il canto fermo (
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Nicolosi, Robert, T. S. Eliot and m
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______ Double counterpoint and cano
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Routh, Francis, Early English organ
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Schwarz, John I. jr, ‘Samuel and
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______ ‘Beethoven’s ninth symph
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Record, 90 (1960), 163-74. ______
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and Baroque’, Church, stage, and
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Winter, Robert S., ‘Of realizatio
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