Die Beaufsichtigung Der Krankenkassen

The “Art of the Fugue” is J. S. Bach’s last major work and it represents without any doubt the culmination of his creativity. Bach was involved in its composition in the last 2 years of his life – he was unable however to complete it, as he was forced to stop working, because he lost his vision, whilst composing the last fugue shortly before his death in July 1750. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel wrote the following emotive note on the manuscript of this “quadruple” fugue: “During the composition of this Fugue, and at the point where B-A-C-H appears as a counter-subject, the composer passed away.” We should remind that in the German notation the letter B represents B flat and the letter H represents B natural).

Rethinking a masterpiece. The Art of Fugue is both Johann Sebastian Bach’s opus summum and last complete work, presumably undertaken between 1740 and 1742. According to the frontispiece, the work’s original title actually read DIE KUNST DER FUGA, notably featuring the Latin (or Italian) word fuga rather than German Fuge - as found, instead, in the two printed editions of 1751 and 1752. Die Kunst der Fuga (KdF hereafter), in the form and the order presented in the Berlin Autograph, has all the appearance of a finished work featuring 14 fugues and canons, all based upon a single original theme, serving as the work’s foundation and with the individual pieces progressing in an increasing order of difficulty and contrapuntal perfection.