# Pure Music



## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

It's argued by many (a majority?) that Bach didn't intend his Art of Fugue for a given instrument but was composing music _for the table_ (as it were)-Tafelmusik. Out of curiosity, are there other examples, prior to the 20th century, of music composed without instrumentation purely for "the student" or reader of music? Pure music, in a sense. I personally can't think of any other examples.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Bach's lack of specified instrumentation makes the AoF unique, whether it was intended as 'pure music' for the table is speculation. I think most composers would consider their music as in a sense, both, no? Telemann literally has a work called _Tafelmusik_, not sure if his intent was that the music be used in the manner described in the OP, but again likely both.

Before the recording era the ability to analyze scores and experience music in this way would certainly be a highly important skill for a composer. I believe it was Schoenberg who once said 'Music is not sound, but an idea.'


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

tdc said:


> Bach's lack of specified instrumentation makes the AoF unique...


That's my thought as well. Telemann's Tafelmusik is scored for instruments and ultimately with performance in mind. It's not clear that Bach ever actually had performance in mind when he wrote AoF. I can't think of another composition like it.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

The tradition of presenting fugues in open score began in Naples with Rocco Rodio's Libro di ricercate, a 4 of 1575, the first keyboard works known in this format, and can be traced between Italy, France and Germany from the later sixteenth century until beyond the time of J.S. Bach. Other notable examples are in contrapuntal keyboard music by Frescobaldi and Froberger.


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

Bach wrote The Art of Fugue as an exercise. Who else would have done such a thing?


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

When arguing that the Art of Fugue was probably intended to be played on a keyboard instrument (and specifically the harpsichord), Gustav Leonhardt notes that it was common practice in the 17th and early 18th centuries to publish keyboard pieces in open score, especially those that are contrapuntally complex. Other examples in addition to those mentioned by Mandryka are Samuel Scheidt's Tabulatura Nova (1624), and Franz Anton Maichelbeck (1702–1750). Johann Klemm, organist at the Dresden court around 1650, published a collection of 36 fugues in a collection called 'Partitura seu Tabulatora italica' that was printed in open score.


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

Obligato instruments refer to the intended instruments by the composer, so The Art of Fuge is without an obligato. There are many such compositions from the baroque era. For example, Antonio Cabezons so called keyboard works were originally intended as pure music not specifying any obligatos, technically you are free to choose any instrument to play his music. But harpshichord and organ are the most prefered because of convenience for one can play different voice parts.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Handelian said:


> Bach wrote The Art of Fugue as an exercise. Who else would have done such a thing?


In fact AoF was never presented as a Clavierübung, a series of exercises, either by Bach in his manuscripts or by publishers after he died. But as far as your question is concerned, there are tons of them -- Krebs, Kuhnau, Lübeck . . .


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