ABSTRACT

Despite their dependence on archaic models and frequent use of stile antico, Bach’s last published keyboard works are expressive and sometimes brilliant. Although diffi cult both technically and intellectually, they clearly were meant to be played, not merely contemplated. As in CU3 (Clavierübung, Part 3) and the Goldberg Variations, the music occasionally incorporates galant thematic ideas within learned contrapuntal designs, but no more than in those previous publications does it make concessions to fashion. It is inevitable, due to the unusual format of each work, that studies have tended to treat them as intellectual conundrums or monuments of Bach’s contrapuntal skill. Yet the superfi cial devices of canon and fugue embodied in each movement are so closely integrated with the deeper musical content that it is impossible to consider one without considering the other.