ABSTRACT
The enigmatic character of The Art of Fugue became apparent as early as in its first edition, printed more than a year after the composer’s death. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who published both the first and the second editions, raised several unsolved questions regarding this opus. Anatoly P Milka presents a consistent and coherent solution to the unresolved questions about the history, structure and appearance of J.S. Bach’s The Art of Fugue, opening new perspectives for further exploration of this musical masterpiece. Milka challenges the present scholarly consensus that there exist two different versions of The Art of Fugue (the Autograph and the Original Edition) and argues that Bach had considered four versions, of which only two are apparent and have been discussed so far. Only Bach’s illness and death prevented him from fulfilling his plan and publishing a fourth, conclusive version of his opus.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |2 pages
PART I Toward the history of the conception
part |2 pages
PART II The principal documents: The Autograph and the Original Edition
part |2 pages
PART III J.S. Bach’s work on The Art of Fugue
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PART IV: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s work toward the publication of The Art of Fugue
part |2 pages
PART V: Toward a new interpretation of The Art of Fugue