Fugal Composition: a Guide to the Study of Bach's '48'.

Fugal Composition: A Guide to the Study of Bach's '48', by Joseph Groocock; edited by Yo Tomita. Greenwood Press (88 Post Rd. W., Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881-5007), 2003. 248 pp. $67.95.

Joseph Groocock's Fugal Composition: A Guide to the Study of Bach's '48' makes a recent and valuable contribution to the subject of counterpoint. While not a must-have for every pianist, it might well prove an essential reference for the serious student of fugue and of Bach's genius Well-Tempered Clavier in particular. A much-respected teacher, composer, keyboardist and conductor, the English Groocock (1913-1997) spent most of his career in Ireland, where he became known as a leader in the field of fugue and counterpoint. After Groocock's death, Yo Tomita, faculty member at Queen's University, Belfast, and creator of the online Bach Bibliography (www.music.qub.ac.uk/ [Tilde]tomita/bachbib.html), reworked the author's unpublished manuscript and debuted the present book in 2003. Tomita adds extensive notes and a highly useful annotated bibliography.

The book's publisher calls the work "eminently readable despite the complexity of its subject" and goes on to praise Tomita for supplying "comparative analyses using current and previous scholarship on every fugue--illustrating where the author supports or challenges other viewpoints."

Following concise and dear explanations of fugal style, answers, counter-subjects and exposition, Groocock classifies each of the "48" according to such parameters as number of voices, use of stretto and appearance of subsidiary subjects. Precise analyses of each fugue comprise most of the book; the prose is sprinkled liberally with helpful charts and diagrams. A final chapter deals with Bach's use of tonality and modulation. Interesting appendices describe in each fugue episodic material, the number of subject entries and the proportion of measures with subjects to those without. Throughout, a cataloguing system unusual to most readers is used. "1.15," for example, replaces the more familiar "Fugue in G Major, Book I."

In his conclusion, Groocock encourages the student who takes on the challenge of comprehensive fugal analysis in the Well-Tempered Clavier and then, thankfully, reminds him or her that the true value of these works is they are a combination of both masterful compositional technique and profound musical intent. The author suggests that "the student who conscientiously tries to follow Bach's lines of thought may hope to catch something of his creative joy."

Fugal Composition: A Guide to the Study of Bach's '48' is not a book to leaf through page by page. Nor does it offer suggestions on performance practice or interpretation. It is, however, a well-written and useful reference guide for those who are interested in detailed analysis by a leading scholar in the field. Reviewed by Andrew Cooperstock, Boulder, Colorado.