Bach's Art of Fugue and Musical Offering

Abstract

Abstract Bach’s Art of Fugue and Musical Offering is the first comprehensive study of two closely related masterworks of the late Baroque fugal style. The initial volume in a series of American Bach Society Guides produced in collaboration with Oxford University Press, it unpacks these famously cerebral collections as endlessly fascinating material for study and play. Intended for a broad readership, this book also summarizes for practitioners and enthusiasts a considerable body of knowledge about this music. Initial chapters explain Bach’s idiosyncratic musical language while reviewing how both projects took shape during his final decade, as he reoriented his creative energies around capstone works of various kinds. The most systematic of these, the Art of Fugue and Musical Offering reflect his lifelong fascination with counterpoint, as demonstrated in elaborate series of fugues and canons in both and in an unusually intricate trio sonata in the latter. Later chapters provide commentary on individual movements and groups of pieces and on the historical reception of this music, including its impact on other disciplines. Recurring themes include Bach’s methodical exploration of contrapuntal types and techniques, his embrace of musical games of various sorts, and his creative assimilation of diverse musical styles.