Introduction

Undoubtedly, this is the central and most intriguing question associated with The Art of Fugue. Certain scholars, grounding their claims on primary resources such as preserved scores and documents, avow that the composer did not nish it. Others, no less persuasively, insist that the composition is completed, corroborating their claim with indirect evidence, circumstantial particulars and the fact that many materials of The Art of Fugue were lost after the composer’s death. Each side sticks to its own truth, leaving the question unresolved.