Four duets BWV 802–805[edit]

Gradus ad Parnassum, the 1725 treatise on counterpoint by Johann Fux, Austrian composer and
music theorist
The descriptions of the duets are based on the detailed analysis in Williams (2003)
and Charru & Theobald (2002).
To listen to a midi recording, please click on the link.

The four duetti BWV 802–805 were included at a fairly late stage in 1739 in the
engraved plates for Clavier-Übung III. Their purpose has remained a source of
debate. Like the beginning prelude and fugue BWV 552 they are not explicitly
mentioned on the title page and there is no explicit indication that they were
intended for organ. However, as several commentators have noted,[59] at a time
when Bach was busy composing counterpoint for the second book of the Well-
Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations (Clavier-Übung IV) using a very
wide harpsichord range, Bach wrote the duets to lie comfortably in the range C to c
″″′ in Helmholtz pitch notation (C2 to C6 in scientific pitch notation), so within the
relatively narrow compass of almost every organ of the time. The pieces can
nevertheless be played on any single keyboard, such as a harpsichord
or fortepiano.

The use of the term duetto itself is closest to that given in the first volume of
the Critica Musica (1722) of Johann Mattheson: a piece for two voices involving
more than just "imitation at the unison and the octave". It was Mattheson's view
that "a composer's true masterpiece" could rather be found in "an artful, fugued
duet, more than a many-voiced alla breve or counterpoint". In choosing the form of
the compositions, which go considerably beyond his Two part inventions BWV
772–786, Bach might have been making a musical contribution to the
contemporary debates on the theory of counterpoint, already propounded in the
tracts of Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg and of Johann Fux, whose Gradus ad
Parnassum had been translated by Bach's friend Mizler. Yearsley (2002) has
suggested that it may have been a direct response to the ongoing argument on
musical style between Birnbaum and Scheibe: Bach combines the simple and
harmonious styles advocated by his critics Mattheson and Scheibe with a more
modern chromatic and often dissonant style, which they regarded as "unnatural"
and "artificial". Despite many proposed explanations—for example as
accompaniments to communion, with the two parts possibly signifying the two
sacramental elements of bread and wine—it has never been determined whether
Bach attached any religious significance to the four duets; instead it has been
considered more likely that Bach sought to illustrate the possibilities of two part
counterpoint as fully as possible, both as a historical account and "for the greater
glory of God".[60]

Duetto I BWV 802[edit]

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The first duet in E minor is a double fugue, 73 bars long, in which all the musical
material is invertible, i.e. can be exchanged between the two parts. The first
subject is six bars long broken up into one bar segments. It is made up of one bar
of demisemiquaver scales leading into four bars where the theme becomes
angular, chromatic and syncopated. In the sixth bar a demisemiquaver motif is
introduced that is developed later in the duet in a highly original way; it also serves
as a means of modulation after which the parts interchange their roles. The
contrasting second subject in quavers with octave leaps is a descent by
a chromatic fourth. The harmonies between the two chromatic parts are similar to
those in the A minor prelude BWV 889/1 from the second book of the Well-
Tempered Clavier, presumed to have been composed at roughly the same time.

BWV 802 has been analysed as follows:

 bars 1–28: exposition for 6 bars in E minor followed by 6 bars with parts
interchanged in B minor, four transitional bars of the demisemiquaver motif in
imitation, followed by a repeat of the exposition for 12 bars, all in E minor
 bars 29–56: inverted exposition for 6 bars with parts in G major followed by 6
bars with parts interchanged in D major, four transitional bars of the
 demisemiquaver motif in imitation, followed by a repeat of the inverted
exposition for 12 bars, all in B minor
 bars 57–60: a transitional passage made up of demisemiquaver scales for 2
bars in D minor, then inverted for 2 bars in A minor
 bars 61–73: repeat of exposition for 5 bars then with parts interchanged for 5
bars, followed by a final interchange and inversion of parts for the 3 bar coda,
all in E minor

Duetto II BWV 803[edit]

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“ The A section of the F major Duetto is everything that Scheibe could

have asked for—and that is not enough for Bach, who moves here far
beyond the clarity and unity of the F major invention. Without the B
section the Duetto is the perfect work of 1739, completely in and of its
time. In its entirety however the piece is a perfect blasphemy—a
powerful refutation indeed of the progressive shibboleths of
naturalness and transparency. ”
— David Yearsley, Bach and the meanings of counterpoint

The second duet in F major BWV 803 is a fugue written in the form of a da capo
aria, in the form ABA. The first section has 37 bars and the second 75 bars, so that
with repeats there are 149 bars. There is a sharp contrast between the two
sections, which Yearsley (2002) has suggested might have been Bach's musical
response to the acrimonious debate on style being conducted between Scheibe
and Birnbaum at the time of composition. Section A is a conventional fugue in the
spirit of the inventions and sinfonias, melodious, harmonious and undemanding on
the listener—the "natural" cantabile approach to composition advocated by both
Mattheson and Scheibe.

Section B is written in quite a different way. It is severe and chromatic, mostly in

minor keys, with dissonances, strettos, syncopation and canonic writing—all
features frowned upon as "artificial" and "unnatural" by Bach's critics. Section B is
divided symmetrically into segments of 31, 13 and 31 bars. The first subject of
section A is heard again in canon in the minor key.

The character of the first subject undergoes a complete transformation, from bright
and effortless simplicity to dark and strained complexity: the strettos in the first
subject produce unusual augmented triads; and a new chromatic countersubject
emerges in the central 13-bar segment (which begins in bar 69, the fifth bar below).

The musical structure of Section A is as follows:

 bars 1–4: (first) subject in right hand, F major

 bars 5–8: subject in left hand, semiquaver countersubject in right hand, C
major
 bars 9–16: episode on material from countersubject
 bars 17–20: subject in right hand, countersubject in left hand, C major
 bars 21–28: episode on material from countersubject
 bars 29–32: subject in left hand, F major
 bars 33–37: coda

The musical structure of Section B is as follows:

 bars 38–45: second subject (in two 4 bar segments) in canon at the fifth, led by
right hand
 bars 46–52: first subject in canon at the fifth, led by the right hand, D minor
 bars 53–60: second subject in canon at the fifth, led by left hand
 bars 61–68: first subject in canon at the fifth, led by left hand, A minor
 bars 69–81: first subject in left hand with chromatic countersubject in right
hand (5 bars), inverted first subject in right hand with inverted chromatic
countersubject in rleft hand (5 bars), semiquaver passagework (3 bars)
 bars 82–89: second subject, in canon at the fifth, led by left hand
 bars 90–96: first subject in canon at the fifth, led by left hand, F minor
 bars 97–104: second subject in canon at the fifth, led by right hand
 bars 105–112: first subject in canon at the fifth, led by right hand, C minor

Duetto III BWV 804[edit]

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The third duet BWV 804 in G major, 39 bars long, is the simplest of the four duetti.
Light and dance-like, it is the closest in form to Bach's Two Part Inventions, of
which it most closely resembles the last, No.15 BWV 786. The bass
accompaniment in detached quavers of the subject does not appear in the upper
part and is not developed.

With very little modulation or chromaticism, the novelty of BWV 804 lies in the
development of the semiquaver passagework.

Apart from a contrasting middle section in E minor, the tonality throughout is

resolutely that of G major. The use of broken chords recalls the writing in the first
movements of the sixth trio sonata for organ BWV 530 and the third Brandenburg
Concerto BWV 1048.
BWV 804 has the following musical structure:

 bars 1–4: subject in G major in right hand followed by response in D major in

left hand
 bars 5–6: transition
 bars 7–10: subject in G major in left hand followed by response in D major in
right hand
 bars 11–15: transition to E minor
 bars 16–19: subject in E minor in right hand followed by response in B minor in
left hand
 bars 20–23: transition
 bars 24–25: subject in C major in right hand
 bars 26–27: transition
 bars 28–31: subject in G major right hand with canon at octave in left hand
 bars 32–33: transition
 bars 34–37: subject in right hand with stretto at octave in left hand after a
quaver
 bars 38–39: subject in G major in right hand

Duetto IV BWV 805[edit]

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BWV 805 is a fugue in strict counterpoint in the key of A minor, 108 bars long. The
8 bar subject starts in minims with a second harmonic half in slow quavers. Bach
introduced further "modern" elements in the semitone drops in the subject and later
motifs (bars 4 and 18). Although all entries of the subject are either in A minor
(tonic) or E minor (dominant), Bach adds chromaticism by flattening notes in the
subject and sharpening notes during modulating passages. Despite being a
rigorous composition with carefully devised invertible counterpoint, i.e. with parts
that can be interchanged, in parts its style is similar to that of the bourée from
theOverture in the French style, BWV 831 from Clavier-Übung II. There are three
episodes which move between different keys and combine three new pairs of
motifs, either 2 bars, 4 bars or 8 bars long, in highly original and constantly
changing ways. The first episode starts in bar 18 below with the first pair of new
motifs, the upper one characterised by an octave drop:
At the end of the first episode, the second harmonious pair of motifs is introduced:

The third pair of motifs, which allows significant modulation, appears for the first
time in the second half of the second episode and is derived from the second half
of the subject and countersubject:

The musical structure of BWV 805 has been analysed as follows:

 bars 1–8: subject in left hand, A minor

 bars 9 -17: subject in right hand, countersubject in left hand, E minor
 bars 18–32: first episode—first motif (b. 18–25), second motif (b. 26–32)
 bars 33–40: subject in right hand, countersubject in left hand, A minor
 bars 41–48: subject in left hand, countersubject in right hand, E minor
 bars 49–69: second episode—first motif inverted (b. 49–56), second motif
inverted (b. 57–63), third motif (b. 64–69)
 bars 70–77: subject in right hand, countersubject in left hand, E minor
 bars 78–95: third episode—first motif inverted (b. 78–81), first motif (b. 82–85),
third motif inverted (86–92), followed by link
 bars 96–103: subject in left hand, countersubject in right hand, A minor
 bars 104–108: coda with neapolitan sixths in bar 105
 Four Duets, from the Clavierübungen Dritter Theil

The third book of J. S. Bach’s Clavierübungen was published in 1739. It contains

twenty-seven pieces. Just after the Chorale Preludes and before the final Fugue, there
are four Duets, BWV802, BWV803, BWV804 and BWV805.

They are not necessarily for organ; they are just as at home on any keyboard, however,
they are mostly known to organists. They are, basically, two-part inventions; but they
were written nearly twenty years after the Inventions, and are bigger and musically
more ambitious.

The Four Duets seem oddly placed within the Clavierübungen Dritter Theil, where the
other pieces are all for organ and have religious themes. It would seem unworthy for
Bach to have put them in just to make up the number of pieces to 27 (i.e. three cubed),
but no very convincing explanation is known.

They might represent the four daily prayers: morning, evening, before the meal, and
after the meal. But the Duets do not seem convincingly characterised as morning,
evening and so on. Anton Heiller suggested they might represent four elements: heaven,
air, water, and earth. But how this fits in to the Clavierübungen Dritter Theil is not
clear, and, again, they are not convincingly so characterised; for comparison, the
variations 2,3,4,5 of the last movement of Beethoven’s Op 109 are very clearly air, fire,
water and earth. In any case, the Duets are Bach’s addition to his output of Two-part
Inventions.

In the Bach-Gesellschaft edition, the trills are marked with individual symbols as
described in Clavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedeman Bach (in the section Explication
unterschiedlicher Zeichen), but because of limitations of my typesetting-software
muscript, the trills are all homogenised here to a tr symbol.
Roslyn Tureck has recorded these Duets on the piano. They are published here because
they deserve to become as well known to all keyboard players as the earlier Two-part
Inventions already are.

Peter J Billam
www.pjb.com.au