ABSTRACT
The third and fourth versions of The Art of Fugue, planned after the composition of the Musical Offering (and possibly also after the Canonic Variations on the Christmas Chorale Vom Himmel Hoch, roughly after 1747/1748), show that J.S. Bach changed the conception of his work. Christoph Friedrich, who witnessed and participated in the process, clearly indicated the existence of ‘einen andern Grund Plan.’ This other plan, as Bach’s ensuing actions show, was radically dierent from the composition’s previous two versions, abandoning the former principle of pair-organisation.1 The new Art of Fugue, as presented in Chapter 10, was based on the following model (Scheme 20.1):
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Scheme 20.1 The numerical structure of The Art of Fugue.
