Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach [Paperback]

Few bodies of Western music are as widely respected, studied, and emulated as the fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach. Despite the esteem which Bach's contributions brought to the genre, however, the origin and early history of the fugue remain poorly understood. Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach addresses both the history and methodology of the pre-Bach fugue (from roughly 1500 to 1700), and, of greatest significance to the literature, it seeks to present a way out of the methodological dilemma of uncertainty which has plagued previous scholarly attempts by considering what musicians of the time had to say about the fugue: what it was, what it was not, how important it was, and where and how a composer should (or shouldn't) use it. Paul Mark Walker is director of the Early Music Ensemble at the University of Virginia and an expert on the history of the fugue.Fugue in the High RenaissanceFugue at the End of the Renaissance, Part I: Italy and the NetherlandsFugue at the End of the Renaissance, Part II: GermanyGerman Theory During the Thirty Years War: Fugue in Latin School Music TextsItalian Influence on German Fugal Theory, 1640-1680Instrumental Fugue and the Emergence of Fugal Structure in the Third Quarter of the Seventeenth CenturyInvertible Counterpoint and the Hamburg Circle of TheoristsFugal Theory, 1680-1710Fugal Theory in German Lexicographic TextsFugal Theory, 1710-1740; Mattheson and Fux