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

inhospitable to fugue.’ 30 To these factors we should add the increasing acceptance of
popular music in academic circles, and perhaps also the growing awareness of non-
Western music. From both within and without, the foundational assumptions of
Western ‘art’ music are now continually called into question.
Fugue, on the other hand, is essentially a music of faith; whether it be faith in a
given social order, or faith in a specifically musical tradition of craftsmanship and
textural elaboration. Only in such contexts is the study of fugue likely to seem
anything but lost labour.
And yet, if there is one thing this study should have made clear, it is that the
past remains with us, and continues to find its way into the present in unexpected
ways. Who in 1750 could have foreseen Haydn’s sudden engagement with fugue in
his op.20 string quartets, or Samuel Wesley’s passionate advocacy of J. S. Bach? Who
could have anticipated the way that Beethoven would turn away from the success of
his ‘middle style’ to embrace both the past and the future in his later music? If this
particular chapter in musical history appears to be closed for now, the awareness of
history itself is a permanent part of our musical culture. In both popular and ‘classical’
music the impulse to measure ourselves against our predecessors is as strong as it was
for Mozart and for Beethoven; and who can tell where this may lead us?
30 P. M. Walker, ‘Fugue, 8: 20 th century’, Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/51678 (accessed August 2, 2008).
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