University of South Carolina
School of Music
BAIN MUSC
726C
The Canons & Fugues of J.S. Bach
Summer
2025
MUSC 726C | Blackboard
| Listening/Analysis
C O
U R S E M O D U L E S
1.
Introduction
2.
Counterpoint &
Harmony
3.
Canon
Fugue
News
The Canon Project Proposal is due Wed., July 2, 11:59 pm
The Fugue Presentation Proposal is due Thurs., July 3,
11:59 pm
Quotable
...for the benefit and use
of musical youth desirous of knowledge....
– J.S. Bach, Well-Tempered
Clavier , Book 1
Course Description
Analysis of the music of J.S. Bach with a focus on canon and
fugue
Reference Text
Benjamin, Thomas. 2003. The Craft of Tonal Counterpoint ,
2nd ed. New York: Routledge. {Full text: TCL }
Course Documents
Syllabus (pdf )
Listening/Analysis
Reading
Digital Anthology {DA }
Terms & Concepts
Handouts
Two-Voice Counterpoint Symbols (pdf )
Nonharmonic tones (pdf )
Bibliography
Topics
Counterpoint & Harmony
Canon
Fugue
Terms & Concepts
Special
Topics
Activities
Activity #1 (Thurs., June 26): Bach and Friends (pdf )
– Due: Fri., June 27, 11:59 PM
Activity #2 (Thurs., July 3): Special Topics (pdf )
– Due: Sat., July 5, 11:59 pm
Activity #3 (Wed., July 9): Fugue (pdf )
– Due Fri., July 11, 11:59 pm
Projects
Chorale Project (pdf )
– Due: Fri., June 27, 11:59 pm
Proposal (pdf )
– Due: Wed., June 25, 11:59 pm
Canon Project (pdf )
– Due: Sat., July 5, 11:59 pm
Proposal (pdf )
– Due: Wed., July 2, 11:59 pm
Fugue Presentation (pdf )
– Tues., July 8, in class
Proposal (pdf )
– Due: Thurs.,
July 3, 11:59 pm
Analytical Resources
CHORALES
CANONS
8 Puzzle Canons: BWV 1072-78 & 1086
Concordia discors , BWV 1086 {DA }
14 Canons , BWV 1087 (discovered 1974) {DA ;
Autograph: BnF }
Straeten, ed., Aria & 14 Canons {IMSLP }
(Straeten 2010 )
The 9 accompanied canons of the Goldberg Variations :
Canons 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 & 27 {DA }
Goldberg Variations , BWV 988 {DA }
Ishizaka, Open Goldberg {SF: YouTube ; Website }
BnF, Goldberg Variations Aria (by Glenn Gould 1955) {YouTube }
The 10 canons of the Musical Offering , BWV 1079 {DA ;
Autograph: BD }
The 4 canons of the Art of Fugue , BWV 1080 {DA }
The 5 Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch da komm'
ich her , BWV 769 {DA }
FUGUES
Well-Tempered Clavier , Book 1 (WTC I), BWV 846-869
{DA ;
Autograph: Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin }
Ishizaka, Open WTC {SF: YouTube ;
Website }
Rother, ed., An open score edition of Bach's Well-Tempered
Clavier {OpenUCT }
(Rother 2015 )
Well-Tempered Clavier , Book 2 (WTC II), BWV 870-893
{DA }
Musical Offering , BWV 1079 {DA }
Art
of Fugue , BWV 1080 {DA }
Alvira,
The
Art of Fugue {Analysis: Teoria ;
Subjects: Teoria ;
Scores in PDF format: Teoria } (Alvira 2017 )
Mass in B Mino r ,
BWV 233 {DA }
Online Media Resources
Bruhn, J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier : In-depth
Analysis and Interpretation {Edition
Gorz }
Byros, Poetry of Tone {YouTube
Channel }
Fundamentals of Baroque Counterpoint: Clausulas and
Cadences, Part 1 {YouTube }
Christiansen, "48 Jewels" {Earsense }
Computational Analysis
Algomus {Algomus.fr }
Cuthbert, music21 :
A Toolkit for Computer-Aided Musicology (Cuthbert & Ariza 2010 )
Humdrum
Dahn, The Four-Part Chorales of J.S. Bach {Bach-chorales.com }
(Dahn 2019 )
Edwards, Puzzle Canon {Website ;
YouTube
Channel }
J.S. Bach, Canon at the octave, from Art of Fugue ,
BWV 1080 {YouTube }
Emmanuel Music
Gran, Counterpoint Tutorials {YouTube
Channel }
Hofstadter
Gödel,
Escher, Bach {GB }
(Hofstadter 1979 )
Game Thinking TV, How AI pioneer Doug Hofstadter wrote
Gödel, Escher, Bach {YouTube }
See also: Mermikides, The Meta in Music (below)
Hogan, The Nikil Hogan Show {YouTube
Channel }
Episode 96: Elam Rotem (Renaissance Counterpoint/Early
Music Sources) {YouTube }
Episode 100: Derek Remeš (J.S. Bach's teaching pedagogy
of composition and improvisation) {YouTube }
Episode 137: Derek Remeš (Analyzing J.S. Bach's WTC
Preludes) {YouTube }
Kerman, The Art of Fugue: Bach Fugues for Keyboard,
1715-1750 {Open
JSTOR ; Luminos }
(Kerman 2015 )
Interlude
Predota, Karaoke Bach (2021) {Interlude }
Predota, My favorite Canons and Other Musical Puzzles
(2024) {Interlude: I ;
II ;
III ;
IV ;
V }
Ishizaka
Lawrence, Bach and
Friends (Lawrence 2010 )
Parloff, Music@Menlo
Lecture on Bach’s ‘Musical Offering’ {YouTube }
Lecture on Bach’s ‘Art of Fugue’{YouTube }
Malinowski, Music Animation Machine
J.S. Bach, Fugue in D major, WTC I, BWV 850 {YouTube }
J.S. Bach,
Musical Offering, BWV 1079, Canon 1 {YouTube }
J.S. Bach,
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 {YouTube }
Marissen and Melamed,Texts and Historically-Informed
Translations for the Music of Johann Sebastian Bach {Bachcantatatexts.org }
Mermikides, Milt(on Mermikides) Online
What is a Puzzle Canon? The Divine Trickery of J.S. Bach {YouTube }
The Meta in Music: The Musician's Guide to Gödel,
Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Lecture 1 - What's the Meta with Music? {YouTube }
Lecture 2 - Bach and Contrapuntal Harmony {YouTube }
Lecture 3 - Translations, Isomorphisms &
Sonifications {YouTube }
Lecture 5 - Emergent & AI Music {YouTube }
Lecture
6 - Lecture 6 - Multiplicity, Recursion &
Infinity {YouTube }
Netherlands Bach Society (NBS), All of
Bach
Prout, Books Ebenezer Prout
Remeš, Go Figure! Thoroughbass & Composition {YouTube Channel }
Thoroughbass for Beginners – J.C. Kellner's Treatise {YouTube
Playlist }
Introduction: Realizing Thoroughbass Chorales in the
Circle of J. S. Bach (2 vols.) {YouTube ;
TCL }
Rotem, Early Music
Sources
Smith, The Canons and Fugues of J.S. Bach {Internet
Archive } (Smith 1996 )
Tefler, #BachUpsideDown:
Bach’s Goldberg Variations in chromatic inversion, explained
{DanTepfer.com }
Research Tools
FindIt
@ UofSC
Dictionaries: Britannica
Academic | Harvard
Dictionary | Grove
Articles: JSTOR
E-books: Ebook
Central | EBSCOhost
| Hathi Trust
Scores: CPDL ;
IMSLP ; Alexander
Street
Recordings: Naxos
| Spotify | YouTube
Thomas Cooper Library
A-Z Databases {TCL }
Oxford Reference {TCL }
Archives,
Catalogues, Editions and Sources
Bach
Archiv Leipzig {WP }
Bach Digital {BD ;
WP }
Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) {WP }
Collected Works
Journals
Bach Journals
College Music Symposium {CMS }
Eighteenth-Century Music {Cambridge }
Intégral {Rochester.edu }
Journal of Music Theory {JMT ;
JSTOR }
Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy {JMTP }
Music Analysis {Wiley ;
JSTOR }
Music Theory Online {MTO }
Music Theory Spectrum {Oxford ; JSTOR }
Bibliographies
Dahn, Chorale
Scholarship Bibliography
Tomita, Bach
Bibliography
Main References
See also: BAIN MUSC 726C Bibliography
& Articles
Benjamin, Thomas. 2003. The Craft of Tonal
Counterpoint , 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. {GB ;
TCL ;
Full text : EBSCOHost ; Ebook
Central }
Fux, Johann Joseph. 1965. Study of Counterpoint: From
Johann Joseph Fux's 'Gradus Ad Parnassum' . Translated
and edited by Alfred Mann. New York: Norton. {GB }
Gauldin, Robert. 2013/1995. A Practical Approach to 18th
Century Counterpoint . Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. {GB1 ;
GB2 }
____________. 2004. Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music .
New York: Norton. {GB }
Kennan, Kent. 1998. Counterpoint , 4th ed.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. {GB }
Mann, Alfred. 1987/1958. The Study of Fugue .
Mineola, NY: Dover. {GB }
Schubert, Peter and Christoph Neidhöfer.
2023/2006. Baroque Counterpoint . Expanded Edition.
Buffalo, NY: State University of New York Press. {GB ;
1/e: GB }
LEGEND
BA -
Britannica Academic; BD
- Bach Digital; BCW
- Bach Cantatas Website
BnF -
Bibliothèque nationale de France; DA
- Digital Anthology; EMS - Early Music
Sources
GB - Google Books; Grove
- Grove Music Online; HD
- Harvard Dictionary of Music
IA
- Internet Archivee; MTO -
Music Theory Online; TCL
- Thomas Cooper Library