ABSTRACT
The new version oered a completely new outlook on the cycle, requiring the realisation of a fugue sequence structured as (4 + 3) + (4 + 3) and supplemented by four additional canons.2 This structure diers signicantly from the one shown on Schemes 9.3 and 9.4. Most importantly, it breaks, at least in part, the pairing principle developed in the First and Second Versions. Thus, while the numerical expression of Bach’s name, the number 14, does play a decisive role in the cycle’s structure, the Third Version includes a total of 14 individual fugues without counting in the four canons. Allegedly, an alternative positioning of the canons could be considered, in a way more similar to the former model, distributing them among the fugue groups (Scheme 10.1, top). This structure would agree with Spitta’s idea of a metafugue.3 However, it did not happen. The nal version of the composition, presented in the rst printed edition, suggests that Bach decided to group the four canons at the end of the cycle (Scheme 10.1, middle). A group of 14 fugues, then, constitutes the main body of the cycle.4
