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

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‘Every hearer enjoys a clear, melodious thought,—the more seizable the whole to him, the more will he be seized by it;—the composer knows this himself,—he sees by what he makes an effect, and what obtains applause;—in fact it comes much easier to him, for he has only to let himself go; but no! he is plagued by the German devil, and must shew the people his learning too!’ R. Wagner, ‘Die deutsche Oper’ (1834) 1 1 Richard Wagner’s prose works, tr. W. A. Ellis, 8 vols. (New York: Broude, 1966), vol. VIII, p.57. 2
ABSTRACT ‘After’ can be taken both as an indication of chronology (after 1750), and with the meaning ‘in imitation of’. When we compare the fugues of Bach to those of later eighteenth-century epigones such as J. L. Krebs, Albrechtsberger, and Clementi, it is striking how works apparently so similar should be accorded such differing cultural significance. Concepts such as ‘inspiration’ or ‘originality’ (or conversely ‘derivative’, ‘unimaginative’) may be useful critical shortcuts; but how far can we ground this kind of distinction analytically in the musical texts themselves? Chapter 1: ‘Fine Distinctions’ approaches this question from the opposite end, so to speak, through the reception histories of two works attributed to Bach himself—BWV 534 and 565—but now thought to be of doubtful authenticity. The chapter continues with the immediate tradition of the Bach circle, as represented by W. F. Bach and J. L. Krebs. Chapter 2: ‘Converting the Handelians’ begins with a similar comparison between Handel and his successors, before turning to Samuel Wesley and his response first of all to Handel’s dominating influence, then to the immense impression that J. S. Bach’s music had upon him. Questions of canonicity emerge in a different way with chapter 3: ‘Classical style, Classical ideology, and the instrumental fugues of Joseph Haydn’. Haydn’s fugues are discussed with a view to their problematic location in the grand narrative of the development of the Viennese Classical style—the strong sense of evolutionary teleology present in the accounts of Sandberger, Rosen, et al is contrasted with the revisionist approach of James Webster. Chapter 4: ‘Mozart, finished and unfinished’ explores Mozart’s curious inability or unwillingness to complete so many of his fugal fragments. Several 3
Page 1: WRESTLING WITH THE GERMAN DEVIL: FI
Page 5 and 6: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many peo
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION ‘Every hearer enjoys
Page 9 and 10: esponse was: ‘the fugue is no lon
Page 11 and 12: instrumental fugues of Joseph Haydn
Page 13 and 14: world of their own. The study concl
Page 15 and 16: facts and the ‘soft technology’
Page 17 and 18: DEFINING FUGUE But what are they? W
Page 19 and 20: elow). For how many voices or parts
Page 21 and 22: indeed a complete counter-expositio
Page 23 and 24: on two pitches throughout, tonic an
Page 25 and 26: already become the historicising na
Page 27 and 28: Catholic tradition, but Albrechtsbe
Page 29 and 30: the texture as a whole coincides in
Page 31 and 32: kind experimentalism of Samuel Wesl
Page 33 and 34: The clearest sign of things to come
Page 35 and 36: Perhaps a clue can be found in the
Page 37 and 38: CHAPTER 1 THE CIRCLE OF J. S. BACH
Page 39 and 40: FINE DISTINCTIONS (1): MISATTRIBUTE
Page 41 and 42: sounding object, nothing has change
Page 43 and 44: Mendelssohn, Schumann, Spitta, Wido
Page 45 and 46: pieces are known from a single copy
Page 47 and 48: very good; and the ends of both mov
Page 49 and 50: ever, could have written it?’ 23
Page 51 and 52: 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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138
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the subject (where again he seems n
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in Bath) recommended that Charles
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have, to a head-injury sustained in
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146
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The ending is rather curious: he re
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hectic week, he could choose betwee
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152
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even have had an informal agreement
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Unlike Handel, however, there no tu
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Throughout the nineteenth century t
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Here, however (especially once the
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162
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published separately over the next
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166
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Likewise does the fugue subject of
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A little more Bach can be seen, per
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attitudes were representative, or e
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consciously parodying his Methodist
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his nature to be exclusive about an
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elieve) in German, the compleatly w
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no other way one could hear operas,
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a stretto treatment (at one minim
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have had a rich Treat in chewing th
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admirable Musick might be played in
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At this point one might have expect
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This is soon accompanied by quaver
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The C minor entry in b.50 destabili
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WESLEY’S LAST YEARS During this p
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Wilhelm Friedemann (see chapter 1).
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describes it well: ‘The concertan
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with sixteen-part orchestra’ (Car
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would be of interest to a budding c
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wrestling with the problem of integ
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Clearly, Haydn is letting fugal thi
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By contrast, the fugue which closes
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unknown in any other Haydn fugue (a
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around b.54, homophonic quaver figu
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very little to it, which is of cour
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When Haydn wrote string quartets, t
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place, socially and musically; and
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of the minuet, both here and in man
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The distinction that Kirkendale dre
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variety of keys as well: not just I
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detail. As far as the tastes of Pri
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constructed in an entirely new mann
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Note the extent to which Haydn’s
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A clear example of this can be seen
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Haydn would write only one more fug
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At any rate, the effect of later ei
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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
Page 460 and 461:
Winter, Robert S., ‘Of realizatio
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