J.S. Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 (Excerpts) [Live]
5/7/2021, 20 Tracks, 2:18:37
Featuring
Christoph Schlüren
Salzburg Chamber Soloists
Johann Sebastian Bach
Robert Schumann
Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling
Did you know?
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Composer Biography
Johann Sebastian Bach's final fugue in The Art of Fugue was left incomplete because he became almost completely blind after two eye operations in 1750, preventing him from committing anything more to paper.
Compositional Technique
Bach's Art of Fugue was notated in score on four staves without indicating instruments, leading to the myth that it was an 'abstract illustrative composition' not intended for performance.
Notable Performances
The Art of Fugue was 'unveiled' to the musical public in the 20th century by Wolfgang Graeser, who arranged an orchestral version that was performed in 1927 by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, unleashing an avalanche of performances.
Composition History
The Art of Fugue was published posthumously, and its final fugue was left unfinished, establishing a myth of the unfinished in music that continued with works by Mozart, Schubert, and Mahler.
Performer Biography
The Salzburg Chamber Soloists were founded in 1991 by violin virtuoso Lavard Skou Larsen, who also launched his career as a violin professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum that same year.
Performer Biography
Christoph Schlüren, the conductor, studied with Sergiu Celibidache from 1981 until Celibidache's death in 1996, and also studied musicology, philosophy, and the history of science.
Critical Reception
Glenn Gould, a renowned musician and Bach connoisseur, considered moments in the final fugue of The Art of Fugue to surpass everything else Bach wrote, finding it deeply moving.
