Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080

Featuring

Andrzej Paweł Ślązak
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Composition History

Johann Sebastian Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue) was conceived after his Goldberg Variations and Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, combining ideas from both.

Composition History

Bach intended to publish Die Kunst der Fuge at his own expense and meticulously titled each section to indicate the type of transformation used.

Compositional Technique

Die Kunst der Fuge is a cycle of fugues and canons based on a single theme, progressing from the simplest to the most complex constructions.

Composition History

The final fugue of Die Kunst der Fuge is unfinished, abruptly breaking off at bar 239 with the introduction of a theme based on the notes B-A-C-H.

Instruments

Andrzej Ślązak performs on a Steinway & Sons concert grand piano, model D-274, for this recording.

Critical Reception

The first edition of Die Kunst der Fuge, published in 1751, contained numerous errors and sold poorly, as fugue and polyphony were considered outdated at the time.

Interpretation

Andrzej Ślązak's interpretation of Die Kunst der Fuge is based on the 1989 G. Henle Verlag edition, which uses a two-stave keyboard system, unlike Bach's original separate staves for each voice.