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111 Scribes, Engravers, and Notational Styles The Final Disposition of Bach’s Art of Fugue Gregory G. Butler Notational Styles in the Original Print T o my knowledge, the first detailed examination of the engraving in the original edition of J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue was carried out by a graduate seminar conducted by Christoph Wolff at Columbia University in 1971.1 On the basis of a detailed analysis of the engraving, a student in that seminar, Richard Koprowski, differentiated between five main notational styles, which he lettered A through F.2 His determination of these styles was based on the notation of symbols such as half-note stems, whole rests, clefs, and common time/alla breve time signatures . It is clear that for Koprowski, these notational styles reflected the handwriting of the scribes of the Abklatschvorlagen,3 or manuscript copies prepared for the engravers , and not that of the engravers of the plates themselves, for in his commentary he links notational style B closely with the scribe of the manuscript Vorlage, J.S. Bach.4 In a study on the engraving of the Art of Fugue published not long after the Columbia report, Wolfgang Wiemer acknowledged that differences in the notation of certain symbols “create the impression of two different engravers having been at work.” However, he also stated categorically that any such conclusion is groundless.5 He went on to attribute the notational discrepancies in the engraving to the involvement of a number of copyists who assisted Bach in the preparation of the Vorlagen for the engravers.6 In a subsequent study, Wiemer was able to identify Johann Heinrich Schübler from Zella in the Thuringian Forest as the single artisan responsible for the engraving of the plates.7 Wiemer, however, overlooked the striking resemblance between the plates engraved by Johann Heinrich’s brother, Johann Georg, for Bach’s Musical Offering8 and one of the two dominant notational styles that Johann Georg represents in the plates of the Art of Fugue. I submit that the same two principal engravers involved in the Musical Offering project were responsible for engraving the plates for the original edition of the Art of Fugue: Johann Georg and Johann Heinrich Schübler. In addition Table 1. Scribes, Engravers, and Notational Styles in the Original Print of the Art of Fugue Pages Early Phase Middle Phase Late Phase BWV Scribea Engraverb Notational Style 1–2 Contrapunctus 1 1080/1 J.S.B. J.G.S. A 3–5 Contrapunctus 2 1080/2 J.S.B. J.H.S. E1 6–8 Contrapunctus 3 1080/3 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 8–12 Contrapunctus 4 1080/4 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 13–15 Contrapunctus 5 1080/5 J.S.B. J.H.S. C 16–18 Contrapunctus 6 1080/6 J.S.B. J.H.S. D 19–21 Contrapunctus 7 1080/7 J.S.B. J.H.S. D 21–25 Contrapunctus 8 1080/8 J.S.B. J.H.S. D 26–28 Contrapunctus 9 1080/9 J.S.B. J.H.S. C, E 29–31 Contrapunctus 10 1080/10 J.S.B. J.H.S. E, E1 32–36 Contrapunctus 11 1080/11 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 37–38 Contrapunctus 12, 2 1080/12, 2 J.S.B. J.H.S. D 39–40 Contrapunctus 12, 1 1080/12, 1 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 41–42 Contrapunctus 13, 2 1080/13, 2 J.H.S.? J.H.S. D 43–44 Contrapunctus 13, 1 1080/13, 1 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 45–47 Contrap: a 4 1080/10a J.C.F.B. J.H.S. F 48–50 Canon by Augmentation 1080/14 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 51–52 Canon at the Octave 1080/15 J.S.B. J.J.F.S. B 53–54 Canon at the Tenth 1080/16 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 55–56 Canon at the Twelfth 1080/17 J.S.B. J.G.S. B 57–58 Fuga a 2. Clav: 1080/18, 1 J.C.F.B. J.H.S. F 59–60 Fuga a 2. Clav: 1080/18, 2 J.C.F.B. J.H.S. F 61–65 Fuga a 3 Soggetti 1080/19 J.C.F.B. J.H.S. F 66–67 Choral. Wenn wir in 668a J.C.F.B. J.H.S. F hoechsten Noethen a. J...

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