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

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when we realise that it is merely part of a symmetrical harmonic/melodic structure: a tune, in short. Nevertheless, it has to be conceded that this material lacks the strong character necessary for a sonata movement; while the counterpoint is insufficiently compelling for a successful fugue. The piece is rather like a compilation of less distinctive (sequential and developmental) passages that might occur in the transitional portions of either genre. Such virtues as this fugue has (and it does have some) are rather diluted over its 202-bar length. Listening to it or playing it through is an experience typical of many later eighteenth-century fugues: interest flickers at a low level from moment to moment, without ever quite disappearing. 73 In addition to the VIII Fugen, three other manualiter fugues have been attributed to W. F. Bach in Traugott Fedtke’s edition of the Orgelwerke. The first, in B flat, turns out to be a transcription of the overture to Handel’s oratorio Esther. Even if this were not known to be the case, it would stand apart from the other fugues by virtue of its independent bass and extended figural episodes. Another long fugue in F (F.33) is generally described as a youthful exercise. It is thoroughly in earnest, but has little else to recommend it. In a sense it is almost too ‘earnest’: the three voices are almost continuously in action, the pervading chromatic counter-subject defeats itself through its omnipresence, and there are neither compelling ideas nor a compelling formal design. On the other hand, the C minor fugue (F.32) which follows seems to me worthy of much more than Geiringer’s cool dismissal: ‘not quite on the same level as these clever and inspired compositions’ (the VIII Fugen) and ‘formalistic in its polyphonic treatment’, 74 being perhaps the most successful clavier fugue he ever wrote. It is long —111 bars, moving mostly in semiquavers. But unlike the juvenile fugue in F, or the 73 It is worth noting, however, that this is the one fugue of W. F. Bach’s that Mozart chose to transcribe for string trio (K.404a/6). He may have chosen it as the one furthest away from his normal style— the nature of the most of the other fugues in K.404a would tend to support this. 74 Geiringer, Bach family, p.320. 78
prolix F minor fugue, the expressive weight of this movement is commensurate with its length. The subject has a certain kinship with many of the VIII Fugen in that it is rhythmically diverse, with prominent rests and appoggiaturas of varying lengths. Unlike these fugues however, which tend to make their effect through empfindsamer expressivity and melodic charm, this piece succeeds by means of its thorough command of the subtleties of fugal technique. Technically it is very sound, following his father’s mature practice of maintaining the integrity of each voice, not having voices enter with non-thematic material etc., and there are even a few ‘scholastic’ fugal devices—notably the strict and very successful stretti in bb.48-54 and 90-96. More important, however, is the skill with which Friedemann handles his texture. Here he shows an ability to generate continuous counterpoint and sustain its interest over long periods, something we might not have been able to infer from the VIII Fugen alone. This continuity is not absolutely unrelieved. One factor that gives this fugue so much of its life and interest is the subtle flux in intensity from moment to moment. For example, although movement in semiquavers pervades the texture, occasional relaxations (bb.19, 28, 51, 66, and 100) create a sense of ease and confidence out of all proportion to their brevity. The fugue is in 3/4 time, and Friedemann exploits the possibilities for hemiola fully (bb.14-15, 34-35), sometimes extending the hemiola over several bars (bb.44-46, 65-69, 75-77), and at one point displacing the metre by one beat (bb.36-38). These passages of metrical instability are balanced by arrivals at passages of greater stability, articulating the form in a uniquely subtle, flexible way. If, for some reason, this piece had been transmitted without the Christian names of its composer (not at all an uncommon situation), there would be no incongruity in placing it alongside the other independent preludes and fugues for clavier of J. S. 79
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WRESTLING WITH THE GERMAN DEVIL: FI
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ABSTRACT ‘After’ can be taken b
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many peo
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INTRODUCTION ‘Every hearer enjoys
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esponse was: ‘the fugue is no lon
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instrumental fugues of Joseph Haydn
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world of their own. The study concl
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facts and the ‘soft technology’
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DEFINING FUGUE But what are they? W
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elow). For how many voices or parts
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indeed a complete counter-expositio
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on two pitches throughout, tonic an
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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
Page 53 and 54: has a number of doubtful features.
Page 55 and 56: einforces them. Its texture is impo
Page 57 and 58: of thinking over long spans.’ 44
Page 59 and 60: W. F. Bach and Krebs have always en
Page 61 and 62: the equitable distribution of his e
Page 63 and 64: slender volumes, including many pie
Page 65 and 66: In style (there is no particular th
Page 67 and 68: and it is the least comfortable bit
Page 69 and 70: voices inverted, and serve the purp
Page 71 and 72: each line in a polyphonic texture a
Page 73 and 74: If its general type is old, however
Page 75 and 76: thematic material. The subject coul
Page 77: Karl Geiringer makes an almost emba
Page 81 and 82: Kittel, and Krebs himself. 76 Inevi
Page 83 and 84: [that] a keyboard composer can and
Page 85: Ex.1.12b shows the start of a fugue
Page 88: Egypt) did not prevent him from bei
Page 92 and 93: The very slow harmonic rhythm, howe
Page 94 and 95: If not inimitably characteristic, t
Page 96 and 97: As we saw in the first part of this
Page 98 and 99: subject is also expansive; it too c
Page 100 and 101: to expand and elaborate the surface
Page 102 and 103: The significance of this sort of st
Page 104 and 105: By the time the halfway point is re
Page 106 and 107: ‘originality’—of historical p
Page 108 and 109: to follow in his father’s footste
Page 110 and 111: CHAPTER 2 J. S. BACH IN LONDON: CON
Page 112 and 113: of the mark. 4 Handel’s influence
Page 114 and 115: that would perpetuate his oratorios
Page 116 and 117: —also remained strongly Handelian
Page 118 and 119: 118
Page 120 and 121: in the Overture to Alcina (1735). A
Page 122 and 123: Root-movement is quite unpredictabl
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Page 126 and 127: 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
Page 424 and 425:
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
Page 438 and 439:
______ 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
Page 448 and 449:
______ Double counterpoint and cano
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Routh, Francis, Early English organ
Page 452 and 453:
Schwarz, John I. jr, ‘Samuel and
Page 454 and 455:
______ ‘Beethoven’s ninth symph
Page 456 and 457:
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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