LDV200

36 BACH_THE ART OF FUGUE BWV1080 Indeed, there is little historical certainty: Die Kunst der Fuge in 24 . Exempeln, now reduced to the ‘authentic’ contents of eighteen pieces, was the result of the initiative of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who, when the work was first published, had brought together the various elements from an incomplete and untitled autograph manuscript, probably dating from about 1745, and comprising twelve fugues and two canons, to which were added various elements that had been preserved, and also the chorale Vor deinen Thron . The latter, which had nothing to do with the rest, was presented as a complement to theunfinished fugue,whichdoes not appear in theautograph, and which bears the famous formula indicating the composer’s death. Finally, the pieces Bach prepared for the engraver Schübler (the brother of the eponymous publisher of chorales) shows scoring on four staves, ‘in score’, as was usual for keyboard works of a certain density. The only exception is the unfinished fugue, which uses only two staves, but it was probably a rough draft. Thus, it is possible, roughly, to follow the uncertain progression of one of the most important masterpieces in Western music, whose perfect prestige is affected neither by the uncertainties that still exist, nor by the contradictions of which it contains the seeds.