LDV200

ANDRÉ ISOIR 35 Two and a half centuries after the first engraved edition of The Art of Fugue (1751), the fourteen Contrapuncti and four Canons , which we know so well, still stand out as a model of composition of the finest skill. And Bach himself must have been aware of its qualities. That is why we still find The Art of Fugue moving, and why, like every great classic, its fascination is timeless: it appealed to listeners in the first place because of the complexity of ‘its debauchery of counterpoint’ ; a hundred years later it inspired deference as a model; today it inspires us because the total perfection that we sense remains inaccessible and the work, though scattered, remains open.