The Art of Fugue and the day the music died: 28 July 1750
A musical fugue is, described simply, the development of a theme/phrase/tune followed by its repetition in alternating pitches/keys [eg C/G/C/G] by different lines of music which interweave, and to my ears chatter to each other, in what is known as counterpoint. This contrapuntal conversation increases in complexity until resolved at the end. I hear similar musical conversations in the Call and Response patterns of sub-Saharan and Cuban music (eg songs of Ibrahim Ferrer), and in the songs of Chas and Dave (eg the Sideboard Song). But a fugue is also a psychological state where a person under profound stress finds themselves in an unexpected place often having travelled unknowingly by train. Rather like the meandering stream of consciousness nature of these blog posts I suppose. I never know where they will lead.
In the 1740s, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote The Art of Fugue: 14 fugues and four canons [London's Burning or Frére Jacques are well-known canons or 'rounds'] based on one simple phrase. Although unfinished, this work can last 74 minutes. It is performed on various combinations of instruments as the original intention is not given. It's difficult to simplify Bach's craft, but his fugal prowess includes inversion (the original tune is upside-down), mirrors (the theme is played together with its upside-down version), augmentation (the notes are lengthened), diminuation (shortened) and even retrograde (backwards), just as Béla Bartók did 200 years later in likely homage. Appreciating the piece's developing complexity from a simple air suggests to me, maybe para-synaesthetically, Herman Hesse's The Glass Bead Game (1943). As someone who was almost a Hippie in the early 70s, this transcendental book was what everyone I knew read in those days infused with blue smoke. The Game, set in the 25th Century, is an arcane academic synthesis of maths, music and cultural history, and seeks deep connections between seemingly unrelated genres. Allegedly there's a playable version online these days. Nevertheless the interface between ethno/psycho-musicology and psychogeography is a rich territory for further exploration.
Perhaps as a precursor to The Glass Bead Game, the idea of creating music from the throw of a dice has had some popularity from the 18th Century until today. The music generated this way would of course be largely random in nature. Despite the calculated precision of Bach's (and Bartók's) music, many have the sensation that such music is plucked naturally and randomly out of the air rather than consciously composed. Deus ex machina?
While Bach's masterful masterpiece [Hesse begins his novel with the character of the Music Master] becomes more complex as it moves along, it also demonstrates his progression in style from the Renaissance to the complexity of late Baroque, and as such, offers a summary of his life in music. He even included a musical transliteration of his own name. In German usage B-A-C-H is B flat-A-C-B natural.
Bach died on 28 July 1750. Much of his music died too. It is unclear if The Art of Fugue was ever intended for performance, or as an academic exercise for study. After intensive research, the Art of Fugue was 'premiered' in Leipzig in 1927. Performances of this new orchestration became so popular that special 'Art of Fugue' trains from Berlin were timetabled.
205 years after Bach died (minus one day), this blogger was born.
LINKS
The Glass Bead Game | novel by Hesse | Britannica
Musical Dice (gbrachetta.github.io)
Very interesting. Some fascinating connections. Learned s lot.
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