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

the first movement of the ‘Prussian’ sonatas, W.48/1). Nevertheless, it does not sound
like a sonata movement as a whole. The reason for this appears to lie in the textural
and tonal consistency of the piece. Although prominent cadential preparations and
articulations abound (bb.36, 40, 58, 80), there is no cumulative structural pattern, as in
a sonata exposition or recapitulation. The tonal shifts are of local significance only,
and (as is usual with fugal writing) derive their coherence from their immediate
surroundings, rather from any sonata-like tonal ‘master-plan’.
This fugue is the furthest any of the set goes in the direction of the galant.
None of the VIII Fugen show any significant influence of sonata procedures upon their
form, and the set is best looked upon as a development and extension of the lighter,
more characteristic end of his father’s fugal style. So far as the preservation of the
voices and adherence to the subject are concerned, the elder Bach would find little to
complain about. If the counterpoint is, on the whole, a little less convoluted would be
normal in the WTC, at times J. S. Bach could also simplify his texture, if it suited the
subject.
In one sense the subject of the next fugue, in E minor, stands in a tradition that
stretches back well into the seventeenth century: that of fugue subjects based upon
dance-rhythms. In practice this usually means ‘gigue’ fugues. Although other dance
types do occasionally appear: the fugues in B flat major (minuet) and in F sharp major
(gavotte) from WTC II, the closing fugue of Vincent Lübeck’s Praeludium in E
(courante), the gigue is by far the most common, perhaps because in this case the
metre is so nearly synonymous with the genre. From Frescobaldi to Buxtehude it was
common to end a canzona with a rapid triple-time movement, and gigue-fugues occur
frequently among such collections as Pachelbel’s Magnificat fugues and Fischer’s
Ariadne Musica. Whether as cause or as effect, it should be noted that pronounced
fugal tendencies were more common in the gigue than in any other suite movement.
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