Enjoy this powerful story (1953) by Karen Blixen.-Evan

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“Bach the master surgeon leaves no scar.”

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There are only two five-voice fugues in The Well-Tempered Clavier, and only two triple fugues. This fugue is both— a five voice triple fugue. Should I be tempted to add some (perhaps too convenient) theological rhetoric to this fugue, an analysis might read like this:

Three subjects in one fugue? Why yes, the trinity in music! The themes enter, Son, Holy Spirit, and God the Father. See first God the Son, a man, very nearly B-A-C-H:

The first entrance of the Pentecostal waves comes, aptly, from the top down. The Holy Spirit is rendered:

God the Father finally makes an appearance, with his perfect interval, and three repeated notes:

On the final page, the Holy Spirit vanishes, leaving father and son in an impressive stretto:

N.B. I’m not convinced Bach had any of this in mind. At least since Schweitzer, however, people have seen the image of the triune God in Bach’s triple fugues. I believe at this time in Bach’s career, he had not quite codified his theological word painting, so if in fact Bach was thinking of the trinity, it is in any case represented more clearly in the triple fugue from Book Two, in f-sharp minor. There, the themes enter in order (as they do in the ‘Saint Anne’s’ Prelude and Fugue BWV 552) Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Biographical and theological readings aside, this is a striking and important fugue. Its prelude is no less beautiful. A most interesting revision comes at bar 14. The earliest version reads:

Only two bars, dominant to tonic. In revision, Bach seamlessly adds an additional two bars, stretching (and perhaps smoothing) out the harmonic rhythm. Bach the master surgeon leaves no scar:

People Mentioned:

Albert SchweitzerMieczysław HorszowskiShirley PerleSeymour LipkinPierre Hantaï

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Concepts covered:

The Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 846–893) is one of the great monuments of Baroque music, counterpoint with theological tone painting. A remarkable triple fugue: the C-sharp minor fugue from Book I (BWV 849) (another triple fugue is the F-sharp minor fugue from Book II BWV 883). The C-sharp minor stands out as a five-voice fugue and triple fugue, an extraordinary rarity in the keyboard literature. Some interpreters have seen theological symbolism in the three subjects—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—Bach’s mastery of structure, harmonic rhythm, and Bach in revision. The development of contrapuntal technique, musical spelling, such as the B-A-C-H motif

“It seems that classical musicians — and as I now understand, jazz musicians at conservatory— are trained to forget the purpose of the music right at the point they start interpreting it.”

In this short episode (11 minutes of talking + 10 minutes of music) I read an entry from my practice diary which may be interesting enough to ponder…

As it was passed around during covid, the “Coronavirus Etude” looked something like this:

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the lesson I got out of the few ‘performances’ made of such a meme.

Meanwhile, Rosalyn Tureck is featured for the first time on this show. Here is a picture of her at a Moog. (I didn’t mention that one of my favorite facts about her is that she espoused this instrument as a perfectly valid way to capture Bach’s music.) Her personal “revelation” about Bach, as related in David Dubal’s Reflections from the Keyboard is read in full.

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Thank you for your support.

Concepts Covered:

In this episode of the WTF Bach Podcast, host Evan Shinners holds off on his exploration of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, reflections on the five-voice fugue in C-sharp minor to come. Instead, practice diaries, and the balance between discipline and spontaneity in classical music is discussed. Drawing on his own pandemic-era “Coronavirus Etude” entry, Shinners critiques how performance can drift from function to ritual, turning practical gestures into overly sanctified art. He also shares stories of pianist Rosalyn Tureck and her personal revelation about Bach, contrasting her style with Glenn Gould and highlighting the diversity of Bach interpretation. This episode blends humor, history, and performance insight. Bach enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the philosophy of practice and interpretation in classical music.