Amazing Counterpoint: Analysis of D Major Fugue from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

Hi. I'm Richard Atkinson. This video will discuss the D major fugue from Book II of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. It begins with a subject consisting of this five-note motif, highlighted in red, answered by this four-note motif, highlighted in green. This fugue is a remarkable example of economy or efficiency of thematic material, since in only 50 measures the red motif appears 25 times (if you count the two shortened fragments and the one variant), and the green motif occurs an astonishing 110 times. Just looking at the highlighted score visually, you can see that the majority of the notes in the fugue are derived from its original subject. The green motif is not only part of the original subject but also acts as the countersubject in the exposition and in stretto with itself it forms the episodes of the fugue which are the normally less contrapuntally stringent transitional portions that typically occur between entries of the original subject. As I've explained in previous videos, a stretto is when entries of a fugal subject overlap temporally such that the second entry begins before the first has finished. In addition to the almost ubiquitous strettos of the green motif, the fugal subject (including both red and green motifs) enters with increasingly complex strettos. First we hear two 2-voice strettos with the subjects entering one beat apart. Next we hear two 3-voice strettos with the subjects entering only one half beat apart. And finally, the stunning climax of a fugue is this stretto involving all four voices, each entering one half beat apart. Now listen to the entire fugue.

Channel: Richard Atkinson

Views: 221,835

Keywords: Bach, J. S. Bach, JS Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, Book 2, D major fugue, D major, fugue, fugal analysis, fugue analysis, analysis, counterpoint, stretto, Book II D major fugue, Book 2 D major fugue, WTC, amazing counterpoint, Richard Atkinson, subject, answer, BWV 874

Id: 8yfHY22Ew1c

Length: 5min 31sec (331 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 04 2016