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

The C minor entry in b.50 destabilises the tonal centre of gravity and interrupts
the prevailing rhythm and texture. One might expect it to herald quite a new style or
stage in the formal design. Instead it is smoothly reintegrated into the fugue, which
continues, tonally and texturally, as if nothing had happened. In short, this event
sounds odd because its highly disruptive effect is not reinforced at any deeper level of
the structure. One could argue that this judgement is merely a case of applying
Classical standards (where coincidence of surface detail and deep structure is
important) to a Baroque genre (where it is not). 117 The problem with such a defence is
that Wesley himself invites this sort of criticism by the introduction of foreign
elements to his fugal writing.
Later shifts in style are also open to similar criticism. The passage beginning at
b.112 sounds as if it comes from another world—a brief fragment of Mendelssohn 118
before Wesley returns to his contrapuntal labours. Grammatically it is nothing more
than a brief transition from F minor (the key reached in b.106) back to D minor, the
tonic. F minor is almost as distant as C minor, but unlike b.50 it has been reached in a
series of easy stages, mostly through descending fifths and thirds, from the not very
distant region of F major (F, B flat, E flat, C minor, A flat, F minor); a good example
of how the traditional range of related keys could be discreetly widened. If the shift to
F minor is done gradually, the return (F minor to F major) is a strongly affective
moment. The sudden shift in mood is not obscured by the high degree of rhythmic
unity (quavers in an inner voice, minims in the treble) over the transition. That
Wesley was aware of this affective shift is suggested by his marking ‘Mezzo’ (-forte?
-piano?) over the relevant passage. Unfortunately the effect is undercut by an
immediate return to the tonic, and to more fugal working. Again a striking (and
117 Or perhaps to a Baroque/Romantic hybrid genre.
118 Many similar passages occur in the works of (e.g.) Wesley, Moscheles, Ries, Kalkbrenner, Spohr,
and others. If we knew more early nineteenth-century music would be so quick to label this style as
‘Mendelssohnian’?
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