ABSTRACT
Bach’s G-minor Fugue presents an unusually virtuosic display of invertible counterpoint. Philipp Spitta cites this fugue as one of five in Book 2 that are “completely unsurpassed in the genre” and Donald Francis Tovey describes its use of double counterpoint succinctly as “all-comprehending.” This paper will examine Bach’s G-minor Fugue from Book 2 of The Well-Tempered Clavier in close detail. In addition to tracing the various formulations of invertible counterpoint, it will also offer voice-leading graphs of the individual entries—and ultimately of the fugue as a whole—using the analytical techniques developed by Heinrich Schenker.
