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

slender volumes, including many pieces for clavier and several inauthentic works. A
composer may have good reasons for producing a small list of works; but in
Friedemann’s case other factors lead one strongly to the conclusion that he found
composition exceedingly difficult as a consequence of unresolved stylistic problems.
His music is often highly expressive; it is seldom comfortable or assured.
There are few composers’ styles more susceptible to the vagaries of the critic’s
mood. At times, (particularly with such pieces as the polonaises, or the Concerto â
duoi cembali concertati) his music seems very fine indeed: expressive, original, and
profound. On other days it seems peculiarly unsatisfying: one moment finicky and
bizarre, the next dry and tedious. This is especially true of his VIII Fugen (BRA 81-
88/F.31), a collection which had a troubled birth. They were written during the later
1770s in an attempt to win the favour of Princess Anna Amalia, a notable patron (and
composer) who had conservative tastes and a particular interest in the school of J. S.
Bach. Her musical circle centred around Johann Wilhelm Marpurg and Johann Philipp
Kirnberger. The fugues themselves were soon lost to view as a bitter personal
controversy erupted. When Kirnberger generously recommended Friedemann’s case
to the Princess, Friedemann responded with almost incredible venality and self-
delusion by seeking to discredit his benefactor and depose him as Kapellmeister. The
fugues themselves appear to have occasioned no response from their dedicatee beyond
mild disappointment at their apparent lack of stature. 59
Although, as we shall see, there are identifiable differences between the fugues
of W. F. Bach and those of his father, on first impressions they come closer to J. S.
Bach’s style (especially in some of the slighter numbers of the WTC) than almost
anyone else of his generation. Giuseppe Buonamici used six of them to fill out his
59 See W. Braun, ‘Wilhelm Friedemann Bach und Johann Philipp Kirnberger: Zur Berliner Bach-
Tradition’ in Barockmusik in Berlin: Sophie Charlotte und ihre Favoriten (Berlin: VDMK,
Landesverband Berlin, 1987), 97-104. To be fair, as Peter Wollny points out in his New Grove
article, the only account of the affair we have comes from Kirnberger himself.
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