Fugue in E-flat Major by JS Bach, BWV 552

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The latest in a series of "mini-recitals" on the Æolian-Skinner by St. Stephen's organists. In this recording, Brent te Velde, director of music, plays Bach's the fugue from Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 552, one of the greatest musical essays on the Holy Trinity. The fugue is especially rich in trinitarian symbology: with a key signature of three flats, it really consists of three fugues, each with its own fugue subject symbolizing an element of the Trinity. Each new fugue subject is subsequently combined with the original subject, which provides for 27 entries of the original subject (3 x 3 x 3). The three fugues are also carefully proportioned - the length of the first and third fugue combined forms a "golden section" in proportion to the length of the second fugue (72 measures : 45 measures). The original fugue subject first reenters at precisely the midpoint of the piece, dividing it in two equal "golden sections." Not only symbolic of the Trinity, the fugue seeks to unite earth and heaven; while duple patterns symbolize musica humana, or earthly music, triple patterns symbolize musica universalis, or the music of the spheres - heavenly music. The piece begins in duple meter (perhaps symbolizing the Son), and proceeds to a triple meter (Holy Spirit). The Son and Holy Spirit unite in the third fugue with the Father in the divine dance. Furthermore, while there are three unique fugue subjects, only two are ever combined at one time, creating a resonance between earth and heaven. This fugue is simultaneously the summation of Bach's mastery of the science of musical composition and one of the most viscerally joyful pieces ever composed.

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