Description
The strictest fugue among the four Duetti, in A minor and in two voices. Near the end of Clavier-Übung III, published in 1739 and built mainly around organ chorale preludes, the four stand together as two-voice keyboard pieces without pedal; this is the last of them, followed by the large fugue that closes the collection.
It is in A minor and 2/2, about three minutes forty seconds long with 1,076 notes. When one voice states the subject, the other answers and follows, and the subject is handed constantly between the two parts. Though written in only two voices, subject and countermelody interlock constantly, making for densely woven music.
It is rated intermediate and calls for independent hands and an ear that brings out the subject each time it enters. The task is to feel 2/2 as two broad beats so the music does not turn heavy, while keeping its minor-key tension. The range runs from D2 to B5, so it fits on a 61-key keyboard. Slow the playback to check where the subject comes and goes with the hand colours, and loop passages containing an entry with the A-B loop until the fugal structure becomes clear.
Two-voice contrapuntal pieces from Part 3 of Bach's Clavier-Übung, blending strict compositional rigor with a lively dialogue between the voices.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach was the towering figure of German Baroque music, serving for decades as Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Renowned for his mastery of counterpoint, he laid the foundations of keyboard music with works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions. This site includes minuets and polonaises from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, the Inventions and Sinfonias, and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier. The Notebook pieces are catalogued with BWV Anh. (appendix) numbers, but many are by other composers - Petzold's minuets among them - or by no one known, and most of their song pages give the current view of who wrote them.
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