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Celebrating the pipe organ, the King of Instruments |
The Art of Escape (Part 2)
We pick up the contrapuntal thread from last week and continue with some additional adventures. Bach left Die Kunst der Fuge incomplete, perhaps by design, perhaps by oversight, perhaps due to ill health. Should one resist the temptation to imagine a conclusion? We don’t.
Program Broadcast dates:
- July 24, 2000
Links and Resources:
Learn more about Art of Fugue, featuring the history of the work, types of fugues, score images, and audio samples- Read Michael Fergusen’s essay, On the Audacity of Completing Bach’s Unfinished Quadruple Fugue
- Rob’s Cultural Archive on the Web
- Was Bach Jewish?
- A Previously Unknown Portrait of Bach
Music played in the program
J.S. BACH: Toccata & Fugue in F, S. 540 –W. Randolph Bourne (1977 Brunzema-Casavant Frères/Maternity of the BVM RCC, Saint Paul, MN) Ten Thousand Lakes CD-113
J.S. BACH: Aria in F after Couperin, S. 587 –Olivier Vernet (1991 Aubertin/Église Saint-Louis, Vichy, France) Ligia Digital 0104069-70
J.S. BACH: Chorale-prelude, Komm heiliger Geist, S. 651 –Gerhard Weinberger (1735 G. Silbermann/Petrikirche, Freiberg, Germany) cpo 999 664
Note: this chorale is a single item. Although there were two before, at one point, this is the correct listing.
J.S. BACH: 4 Canons, from Art of Fugue, S. 1080 Canon in Hypodiapason, at the Octave –Lynn Zeigler (1987 Brombaugh/Iowa State University, Ames, IA) Calcante CD-011
Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta, at the twelfth –Louis Thiry (1741 J.A. Silbermann/Église Saint Thomas, Strasbourg, France) Studio SM 1222.15
Canon alla Decima Contrapunto alla Terza, at the tenth –Thierry Mechler (1993 Muhleisen/St. Nicholas Church, Walbeck, Germany) Solstice CD-147
Canon in Hypodiatessaron, in contrary motion with augmentation –Bernard Lagacé (1961 Beckerath/Église Immaculée-Conception, Montréal, Québec, Canada) Analekta CD-23066/7
J.S. BACH: Contrapunctus XIV, on 4 themes, from Art of Fugue, S. 1080 [completed]
by Helmut Walcha (1780 Silbermann/Église Saint Pierre-le-Jeune, Strasbourg, France) Archive 12 CD-419904
by Lionel Rogg (1959 Metzler/St. Peter Cathedral, Geneva, Switzerland) Angel LP SB-3766
by Michael Ferguson (1979 C.B. Fisk/House of Hope Presbyterian, Saint Paul, MN) Pipedreams PD 1001
J.S. BACH: Chorale-prelude, Vor Deinen Thron tret ich, S. 668 –Douglas E. Bush (1739 Trost/Altenburg Castle Chapel, Germany) Classical 89 CD-9603
Filler –Contrapunctus Number 4, from Art of Fugue –Wolfgang Rübsam, Philips 438 186
Our trip seems to conclude here but with realization that it may never end as long as listeners are eager to be engaged by music such as this, both rigorous and remarkable!