J. S. Bach - The Art of Fugue - Contrapunctus XIV (BWV 1080)

There are few moments in life when a piece of music affects one's entire being. For me, this is one of those experiences.

At 8:59, Bach's work breaks off abruptly in the middle of the third section at bar 239 - a shatteringly premature end in the midst of a massive contrapuntal oration.

The autograph at 9:00 carries a note in the handwriting of Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach saying "Über dieser Fuge, wo der Name B A C H im Contrasubject angebracht worden, ist der Verfasser gestorben." ("At the point where the composer introduces the name BACH [for which the English notation would be B♭-A-C-B♮] in the countersubject to this fugue, the composer died.") However, modern scholarship disputes this version, in particular because the musical notes are indisputably in Bach's own hand, written in a time before his deteriorating vision led to erratic handwriting, probably 1748--1749 (Wikipedia).

At 9:01 Munchinger et al perform Bach's chorale prelude BWV 668, the so-called "deathbed chorale". The piece was posthumously published in 1751 as an appendix to the Art of the Fugue, with the title Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein ("When we are in greatest need") - BWV 668a, instead of the original title Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit ("Before your throne I now appear") - BWV 668.

Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech - details with timeline as follows:

Opening image - Crab Nebula (M1 or NGC 1952)

01:04 - Homunculus Nebula (enclosing Eta Carinae and within the Carina Nebula NCG 3372)

01:51 - Sculptor Galaxy (also known as the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253) with smaller, unrelated galaxy in Hubble's field of view.

02:39 - Eagle Nebula (M16 or NGC 6611) also known as the Star Queen Nebula

03:37 - Carina Nebula (NGC 3372)

04:09 - N49 (in Large Magellanic Cloud)

04:56 - Eagle Nebula (M16 or NGC 6611) also known as the Star Queen Nebula

05:44 - Sombrero Galaxy (M104 or NGC 4594)

06:22 - Whirlpool Galaxy and companion, respectively (M51a, or NGC 5194) and M51b or NGC 5195)

07:11 - Bode's Galaxy (M81 or NGC 3031) Spitzer Telescope (infra red)

07:58 - NGC 6751 (planetary nebula)

08:39 - "Pillars of Creation" - in the Eagle Nebula (M16 or NGC 6611)

09:51 - V838 Monocerotis (erupting variable star)

10:39 - M77 or NGC 1068

11:32 - Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as seen from Space Shuttle Discovery

12:41 - Cosmic Distance Ladder (artist's impression)

Karl Münchinger (Conductor)
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
(Stuttgarter Kammerorchester)
A Decca Recording (P) 1965

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