Crazy Chromatic, Insane Inversion Fugue in Bach's BWV 179 Cantata

[@Richard.Atkinson]

13:15 - I completely missed an entry of the orange countersubject in the bass. Not sure how this was even possible, given how many hundreds of times I go over each bar when creating a video like this. I’m especially annoyed since it’s a totally obvious 4-part imitation. Oh well - KZbin does not allow re-uploads that retain view counts and comments.

[@bethfrancisco701]

Bach's works gives both relaxation and migraine at the same time.

[@johnchessant3012]

Wow, your video on the Bach C-sharp major fugue was almost 5 years ago! One thing that's changed for sure since then is that viewers of this channel are expected to know what a stretto is by now :D

[@tamed4171]

Remind me what a stretto is again??

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@tamed4171 Every time I mention it I consider leaving out the explanation, but then I realize it might be the first of my videos a person is viewing.

[@frenchimp]

@@tamed4171 Remind me what a stretto is again?? Remind me what a stretto is again?? Remind me what a stretto is again??

[@TheOneAndOnlyZeno]

@@frenchimp This is but a fugue, and this is the countersubject that as two independent voices sing together, they meet, "point by point", and such is made counterpoint. AND HERE THE STRE- This is but a fugue, a countersubject must appear more than once without significant modification to be regarded as such. AND HERE BE THE STRETTO This is but a fugue, most fugues have at least one countersubject. Many have two or three. AND HERE BE THE STRETTO

[@hudsonhovil1621]

Excellent content. I had never heard of Anton Reicha and that fugal exposition is unlike anything I have heard before. An amazing effect having those modulations of a third especially how the theme sets it up. Thank you for introducing me to this

[@Hist_da_Musica]

Listening to the annotated score after the analysis is such a great experience! I'm able to enjoy it more intensely

[@jmchord]

One of my favorite fugues, looking forward to this.

[@neogb8995]

I love Bach so much, especially his weirdness at times. That chromatic figure in the "falschen" reminds me of the Vater unser im himmelreich prelude for organ (BWV 682) which honestly sounds like Bach finished Schoenberg's organ sonata for him 200 years before he was born

[@Richard.Atkinson]

I almost started a video a few years ago about BWV 682 - such a wild piece, with its strange "Scotch snap" rhythms. Of course, almost everything from the Clavier-Übung III is a masterpiece!

[@neogb8995]

@@Richard.Atkinson Bach's haters were truly terrified when he dropped Keyboard Practice 3 🔥🔥

[@roycezaro1998]

I was just about to comment on that very part

[@coolhandphilip]

@@neogb8995 What is that?

[@sebastianschweigert7117]

@@coolhandphilip Clavier-Übung translates to "keyboard practice"

[@glissandoconcertseriesbost9523]

What a spectacular piece! And elegant, in spite of its complexity, with a Buxtehudian feel. Thank you, Rich, for the fantastic explanation of Bach's contrapuntal procedures. You do it as elegantly as Bach composes. The allusions to all the other works are spot-on, with a really apt comparison to the C-sharp major fugue from WTC II. Interestingly, Bach musically treats hypocrisy with perhaps less severity than he does falseness-the former is portrayed by just a funky rhythm, without any chromaticism that is justly reserved for the latter!

[@Peculate]

The analysis on this channel is consistently excellent. I always smile when a new video shows up in my feed. The random tangents are delightful

[@AJBlueJay]

This reminds me of the first Kyrie from Zelenka's Missa Votiva. The orange counter subject in this cantata also sounds a lot like the subject in the Aria from Zelenka's Ouverture a 7 in F. The ending sounds like the Galant style of JA Hasse. For example, the ending of the Kyrie from Hasse's Requiem in C major. Except Bach is obviously more flowing and contrapuntal, and the Hasse ending is lighter and more sectional.

[@chipensemble]

I recognize this fugue from Bachs own Missa in G major! Bach used the same music for the Kyrie. This piece always sounded to me as one of the most spiritual- of those that make me realize the greatness of Bach.

[@tangsolaris9533]

Simply so many beautiful fugues in this video.

[@johnchessant3012]

Great video with a nice alliterative title! I'll add one more wrinkle to the incredible four layers of interesting tangents, on the topic of Bach's WTC and Mozart's Requiem: The subject from that Requiem fugue sounds similar to the subject from the A minor fugue from the WTC Book 2!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Also: the “And with his stripes” chorus from Handel’s Messiah has this same subject. And the fugal finale of Haydn’s Op. 20 No. 5 quartet also has a similar subject.

[@emilgilels]

This subject is in the 'shape' of a cross (across, up a bit, then sharply down). It is not at all an accident that it was used by all these famous composers. 🙂

[@matthiasl.6551]

This cantata is incredible, thank you for sharing this treasure. As an aficionado or medieval and Renaissance music, I love when Bach goes old school like this. One note about Gabrieli : off the cuff, I'd say the entries on c and g are because the composer is thinking of the 8th Gregorian mode, g plagal, whose "dominant" is c. That would also be why the last chord is a c chord (in plagal modes, composers of the 16th c. would often harmonize the last chord at the dominant, with an inner voice - here the alto - playing the tonic). Of course this is just my two cents, as it is very difficult to analyse how composers of that period adapted monodic modal theory to a polyphonic context.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, I wasn't trying to imply that Gabrieli was thinking in terms of "tonic" and "dominant." I was just pointing out that imitative, fugue-like compositions in every era don't always follow the scheme we generally expect in a typical baroque fugue.

[@matthiasl.6551]

No, your meaning was quite clear. I just wanted to point out that there is such a thing as "final" and "dominant" in medieval modal theory, and throughout the 16th and early 17th c. you see composers attempting to use several competing theoretical models of modalilty in their polyphonic works.

[@matthiasl.6551]

I guess my point is : some aspects of this Bach cantata sound very reminiscent of these earlier approaches, to my ears.

[@Brandon55638]

The Gabrieli example is in what Renaissance theorists would call the 12th mode, or Hypoionian, which is essentially the same as C major

[@tamed4171]

Your thorough understanding of counterpoint and the ability to portray your analyses in such a digestible way is, as always, immensely impressive. Fantastic video as per usual!

[@bachfan1006]

One of my favorite pieces by Bach! Will you make a video about the counterpoint of bwv 50? I think that’s an excellent counterpoint writing too!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

This is one of my favorites, and I've already thought about doing a video about it one day. Some scholars have argued that it wasn't composed by Bach, but I don't think their arguments make that much sense.

[@zoltankovacs385]

Thank you Richard for this marvelous piece of analysis!

[@simonsmatthew]

Thanks Richard for providing this invaluable resource. I am inspired and learn so much from them. It's funny the C-sharp major fugue is one of my least favourite. I always found the melody (ie the Subject) ugly. Perhaps now, if is linked to this Cantata and its text, I have an explanation for it! On open endings the f-minor fugue (also Book II) is a good Bach example. Of the two I find the f-minor fugue much prettier. Although finding good recordings of it is impossible I think. I think the problem with the bourgois big record label pianist recordings is that they just don't seem to sing or breath. Being familiar with Bach's choral works is crucial for keyboardists I think. Organists, who also often tend to be church choir directors, I think have less problems here than other keyboardists.

[@markkumollari]

Thank you so much again. I love the way how every work you take is connected to broader family affairs - to fellow composers, adding knowledge. Of this text, might the strange melodic features refer to catholic French music with its melismatas that Bach knew well? But that is more political than musical question!

[@johnphillips5993]

Can you do a deep dive on the Schumann Piano Concerto? Given the sheer tonnage of things to explore in that piece, I’m surprised people haven’t analysed it more

[@derekdavid1]

So amazing.... Bravo, my friend!!!!!!!!

[@DGordon191]

Love your videos. Thanks for creating.

[@ryanlock2u]

Those chromatic lines on “falschem” get me every time

[@giannottister]

It is curious that Bach used this chorus for the Kyrie of Mass BWV 236, where the references to the text of the original cantata lose all relationship to the words, to the point that even the prosody of the word "Christe" is wrong.

[@magisterparsons]

Thank you for this!

[@Luboman411]

Oooh, a motet! Bach is also a genius with motets, including my fave, BWV 225.

[@gracebinder]

I guess JSB was not an hypocritical believer but a faithful one. And following the great analysis de Mr Atkinson I guess also that JSB had a lot of fun, like being in a big playground of notes

[@feinberg4625]

Wow, thanks for making me aware of this piece. Now we need an analysis of the art of the fugue and the hammerklavier 😂

[@soutteruk1]

You're not asking much!

[@feinberg4625]

@@soutteruk1 LOL

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@feinberg4625 I have plans to do the entire Musical Offering and Art of Fugue, but they may need to be commissioned. 😅

[@TomRussle]

@@Richard.Atkinson what about the remainder of Brahms 4, and 2 and 3 as well?

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@TomRussle Those are coming. Probably my next video will be the 2nd mvt. of 4.

[@acrid8952]

are we sure Bach didn't just compose the green and orange subjects as an inversion double canon in advance (sounds difficult but is relatively simple to do), which would guarantee that they can be used as stretto inversion subjects in a fugue?

[@Richard.Atkinson]

It seems like that’s probably what he did, but it’s impossible to know for sure.

[@musimathematician]

Thank you for making these videos! If I may ask, how long does it take you to put an entire video together?

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Many many full days of work. That last Bruckner video took all summer to create! (The Große Fuge video took many months. The Brahms Symphony 4 mvt. 1 video took many months. Etc.). The smaller, less-involved videos usually take a few weeks.

[@carsonwall2400]

Could you do the god-tier Contrapunctus 11? :)

[@zhihuangxu6551]

So when would Richard plz do the 2nd movement of Brahms 4th symphony? I have shuted myself against any information about the subsequent movements of that symphony in order to avoid spoilers...

[@Richard.Atkinson]

I’m 90% sure this will be my next video!

[@msjapan112]

haha the facial expression when you are reading German at the beginning. 😬

[@StefanoMontani]

I would call it bizarre more than extraordinary. What really surprises me, istead, is that no Emperor told him "Too much notes, Herr Bach" (or what it was). This is what I find really extraordinary, that his "public" accepted this kind of musical writing. Is seems to me that Mozart and other composers too did't had this freedom. For sure not Mozart, born in a city where every music had to be, we could say, a "tafelmusik".

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Actually this was a frequent complaint about Bach’s music. Here’s a quote from an official rebuke from his employers in Arnstadt: “reprove him for having hitherto made many curious variations in the chorale, and mingled many strange notes in it, and for the fact that the congregation has been confused by it.”

[@StefanoMontani]

@@Richard.Atkinson Interesting, thanks.

[@trisymphony]

Great analysis as always. The German lyrics should be sung exactly like you (half-jokingly?) spoke them in the beginning. Unfortunately, the recording you chose is „one of those“ which performs this movement in the same light, fluffy, dancing style that is all too common in the so-called „authentic performance“, regardless of the message or emotion Bach wants to convey. As a German, this makes his recording very hard to listen to, because the clash between Bach‘s intentions, which can be clearly seen in both score and text, and the clueless performance is so stark. There is an excellent recording of Karl Richter with the same chorus here on KZbin which I would recommend instead.

[@heirofspinoza813]

So cool. You got to do Brahms 2nd!

[@the_eternal_student]

I enjoyed the comparison to other works of Bach.

[@WarerBrow]

what musicological and analytical works inspired you the most? what you can recommend to read for Bach fans?

[@andrewgoretsky9654]

Actually, this is not a unique example of plagal answer, moreover, not a unique example of "fuga contraria". Do you know BWV 687 "Aus tiefer not schrei Ich zu dir". Many correlations.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Yes, that would've been another good example to add to my tangent! Also, the whole point of the tangent was to show that it wasn't unique.

[@andrewgoretsky9654]

@@Richard.Atkinson thank you very much for your reply! Also, we can discuss some polyphonical stuff, I'm polyphonist too)

[@solcarzemog5232]

Why would he then use this exact music in the "KYRIE" of the G major "Missa Brevis" ?

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Many of the movements from those short masses were recycled from earlier cantatas. Actually, the music from the last 3 cantata choruses I've analyzed on this channel were later repurposed in those masses.

[@cantatasonmymind]

Most probably because he was extremely proud of this composition, and when he had the opportunity to "recycle" it, he took it, so that the cantata movements he was most proud of could be performed at more occasions during the year than just the one Sunday in the church year for which they were written.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@cantatasonmymind Exactly! That’s why so many of the greatest choruses were repurposed in the B-minor Mass!

[@mrknesiah]

Check out the fugues of Zelenka

[@prototypeinheritance515]

Your German pronouciation is very good!

[@stanisawzokiewski707]

Good video. Mahler 8 when?

[@mirrormoonknight856]

I don´t understand why would anyone speak so. Symphonies 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9 are superior. The second movement of the 8th symphony is excellent, but even then...there are at least 10 Mahler movements better than that one.

[@stanisawzokiewski707]

​@@mirrormoonknight856 You speak as if this was dogmatic law. I just like the counterpoint in 8 and would like to see a video on its analysis.

[@mirrormoonknight856]

@@stanisawzokiewski707 Fair enough. My comment was more agressive than intended.

[@stanisawzokiewski707]

​@@mirrormoonknight856 Note that I also hold every Mahler Symphony in high regard.

[@mirrormoonknight856]

@@stanisawzokiewski707 I do not hold in high regard the seventh, nor the fifth. However, the former has its first movement, whilst the latter has its fourth movement. Those movements are great.

[@coolhandphilip]

This is why Bach is a genius, and why even with my measured 165 IQ, I am NOT.

[@sdzhchannel]

The chromaticism gives me Zelenka feel, as usual

[@luisdanielplatakelly9308]

Doctor Atkinson. In the analysis of Mozart´s 36th symphony finale, you did not mention a rather interesting detail. Using this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipm8Xn2BZpWhqMU, listen from 2:19 to 2:21. The fourth movement harks back to that part from 26:32 to 26:38.

[@andrewkoenig2246]

We do not deserve Bach.

[@jackeddemon]

Very strange. But it works 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@aksuli1]

I'd say cool, not strange.

[@coprario1]

Reicha!

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Dedicated to Joseph Haydn, with the little poem!

[@Robert-er5wq]

Should be played in those evangelical churches supporting the far right and vice versa.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

To be fair, this “God” guy is himself a giant hypocrite, so it’s hard to tell who’s being hypocritical by following him and who’s being hypocritical by not following him.

[@Robert-er5wq]

@@Richard.Atkinson Yep, if one can come to so vastly different moral conclusions from one of the same source (Bible), then something is wrong with the source. And that applies to belief in God in general. But back to the music: Bach's church cantatas were my source of belief. Because I moved and stopped singing, I stopped believing (belief comes from hearing?) - and obviously other revelations (pun intended). I deeply regret my loss in faith when I hear Bach, my beloved cantatas, and other music (such as Schein/Scheidt/Schütz, for example) It still stirs deep emotions in me.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@Robert-er5wq The same thing happens to me (music has amazing power over emotions), but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with the repugnant theology.

[@pseudotonal]

How about if you read the translations in a respectful manner. It sound like a mocking tone.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

It was meant to be. It’s the tone that vengeful, genocidal, imaginary deities deserve 😂

[@pseudotonal]

@@Richard.Atkinson Shame on you. You are misinformed and rebellious. You don't know the truth and prefer to believe anti-Christ lies. Even if you don't believe the truth, Bach certainly knew Jesus personally. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me." I urge you to humbly examine this, not just mock it. It is your pride that damns you.

[@smuecke]

@pseudotonal Your beliefs are not the truth.

[@matthiaswilhelm9813]

I hate the Temper.Piano Tuning.A clear Moll or Major Tuning ist better for my mind,The Pictures of a Keyboard Keys with Black and White Keys System ist the perverted Part for Keyboard playing.There must come a Revolution in The Future...😯😂😂😂🙀🙀🙀🇩🇪💓😯💖😱a computing CPU can in milliseconds Work a Moll or Dur cleaning exakt Tuning and Playa cleaning Quint.The Wolfs Quint ist the Error.

[@sepandghanouni2271]

Please crank up your pace and make more vids

[@Richard.Atkinson]

If more people donated on Patreon, this would be more of a possibility for me.

[@sbrgm]

Good analysis, and by the way, your German pronunciation was not bad ;-) But honestly, I don't understand why you always kind of ridicule the text passages of Bach. Bach was a deeply believing person (so am I) and he meant what he wrote. And that fear has nothing to do with things like "fear of hell", but with your authenticity as believer...

[@Richard.Atkinson]

Actually, I try to be pretty neutral most of the time. I poked fun of this text because it's a particularly egregious example of how much of a petty authoritarian dictator the Christian god is. Of course... brilliantly set to ingenious music.

[@sbrgm]

@@Richard.Atkinson That is a typical distorted view of God - where do you have that from, from the Atheists' forum? Sounds like it. God's character is love - but: also holiness. And therefore it can look like the character had a dark side, but that's not true. If you want to discuss on this or have questions, I could answer them. If not, we drop it - no problem, I don't need it, just don't want to deny my help...

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@sbrgm I think a parent who murders nearly all of his children by drowning them when they misbehave at least has some explaining to do… 😅 And if someone called these genocidal actions “loving,” they’d have some explaining to do as well.

[@sbrgm]

@@Richard.Atkinson I don't know what scripture you are talking about. Please tell me book, chapter and verse or at least the name of the story.

[@Richard.Atkinson]

@@sbrgm Noah, flood, etc.

[@laurasalo6160]

Or maybe Bach...