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

thematic material. The subject could hardly be more primitive: a simple ascending
hexachord from 1 to 6. It is possible to parse the movement according to normal fugal
procedure, to point out the subject in b.1, the answer in b.2, the inverted subject in
bb.12 and 16, and so on—but is there much point? The subject is too neutral to stand
out from the accompanying counterpoint, 68 so individual entries are hardly worth
noting. Whereas in the E minor fugue the subject was absorbed into the texture
through redevelopment of its constituent elements, here there is almost no subject to
speak of. With its minimal subject and modest dimensions, the B flat fugue bears a
close resemblance to many of J. S. Bach three-part Sinfonias (which, as ‘Fantasias’,
had been originally written for Friedemann himself).
This fugue works by developing an idiosyncrasy seen in others of the set into a
structural principle. All of the fugues we have looked at have, after the first two
68 This is not necessarily a bad thing. A great advantage of neutral material (say, the repeated notes in
the first movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or Haydn’s Quartet op.33/3) is that they can fit
into almost any situation, thus rendering the most basic elements thematic.
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