Johann Sebastian Bach

The fugue is the crowning glory of Baroque form, with Bach its indisputable master. He had already written a G minor fugue with Basso Continuo while working in Weimar: his influences were Corelli and Westhoff ,whose fugues were less sophisticated,. This Fuga is the shortest of the three solo ones; it has a nine-note subject with a range of just a fourth. Bach’s seemingly infinite ingenuity in the handling of such sparse material is commented upon: each time the fugue subject occurs it has a different feel. This poses a challenge to the performer, who must constantly match these differences with new colors. The author does not believe that we are obliged to use the same bowing throughout. Slurs are discussed: are they harmonic shorthand or intended to be played literally? There is advice on voicing, an exercise on how to exploit the violin’s resonance when playing chords and copious bar-by-bar observations.