The Art of Fugue or The Art of the Fugue (original German: Die Kunst der Fuge), BWV 1080, is an incomplete masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685--1750). The work was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745. This manuscript has a slightly different title, added afterwards by his son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol: Die Kunst der Fuga. Bach's second version was published in 1751 after his death. It contains 14 fugues and 4 canons. “The governing idea of the work“, as the eminent Bach specialist Christoph Wolff put it, is “an exploration in depth of the contrapuntal possibilities inherent in a single musical subject.“ Structure 0:00 - Contrapunctus I 3:12 - Contrapunctus II 6:24 - Contrapunctus III 9:20 - Contrapunctus IV 14:38 - Contrapunctus V 17:55 - Contrapunctus VI in Stylo Francese 22:04 - Contrapunctus VII per Augmentationem et Diminutionem 26:04 - Contrapunctus VIII 32:06 - Contrapunctus IX alla Duodecima 35:06 - Contrapunctus X alla Decima 39:30 - Contrapunctus XI Triple fugue 46:41 - Canone all'Ottava 49:35 - Canone alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta 51:52 - Canone alla Decima in Contrapunto alla Terza 56:36 - Canone per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu 1:01:27 - Contrapunctus XIII rectus 1:03:59 - Contrapunctus XIII inversus 1:06:57 - Contrapunctus XII rectus 1:09:50 - Contrapunctus XII inversus Herbert Tachezi, organ [Wikipedia ]
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