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Score Salon:
Robert Henry on Bach's The Art of Fugue
April 8, 2002 at Bad Animals
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| Image reproduced through special permission from Dover Publications |
Starting with four fugues, Bach's work takes the themes through a myriad of possibilities in counterfugues, double and triple fugues, several canons, and mirror fugues, all the while laying down for posterity the rich contrapuntal possibilities of the 12-note well tempered scale.
This was a must-see Salon Score reading for composers wishing to brush up their counterpoint skills. New York Times critic Harold C. Shonberg proclaimed that "Musicians for over 200 years have been awed by the incredible technique and ingenuity with which Bach, in The Art of Fugue, summarized everything known about counterpoint and then added the full measure of his own mighty genius, creating a score that in its majesty and poetry stands unique."
Composers as diverse as Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Hindemeth, and Stravinsky all demanded that their students study and write fugues. "To know fugue deeply," wrote Chopin in his diaries, "is to be acquainted with the element of all reason and consistency in music."
Moderator Robert Alan Henry is a pianist, composer, and teacher in the Seattle area. His composition studies were with Gerald Strang (an assistant and protégé of Arnold Schoenberg) and with Donald Andrus and Edward Applebaum. He has written in a wide variety of styles and teaches piano, theory, composition, music history, and form and analysis. He has done extensive research into the music of Bach including most of the keyboard works. He has also researched the Baroque performance practice of the period and brings a unique perspective to the music not only from a musicological viewpoint but as a composer as well.
Capitol Music Center is the official sponsor of the SCA Monthly Score Salon.
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© Copyright 2002, Seattle Composers Alliance
