Fugues on BACH, Op. 60

Two hundred years after his birth, Robert Schumann (1810-56) remains a favorite composer among modern audiences, but the Fugues on BACH, op. 60, will be new territory for most listeners. Early in his career Schumann achieved brilliance as a pianist and composer of virtuosic music. As he matured, he felt the urge to amplify the rigor and technical mastery of his style. In 1845 he undertook formal lessons in Baroque counterpoint with a teacher in Dresden. Those lessons bore immediate fruit in a series of works, including the six Fugues on BACH, op. 60. (We will hear the second and third works in opus 60.) The second fugue, marked “Lebhaft,” dives right in with the BACH motive and a lively continuation. The subject moves through all four voices, culminating with the pedal entrance. A central episode suggests a chorale texture, while the final section becomes more improvisatory. Except for the thoroughgoing chromaticism suggested by the BACH motive itself, one could mistake this piece for an authentic fantasia and fugue by Bach. Schumann’s third fugue, heard in an arrangement for two pianists, is set for five voices. However, there is no time when all five voices play simultaneously except in the final phrase. It is written in the older contrapuntal style using long held notes. At the slower tempo, the dissonance of the BACH theme is mediated. The piece shows how the motive gravitates toward C as the tonal center, even though B-flat is the first pitch heard.

(c) Jason Stell