Contrapunctus 18
Interested in purchasing “Contrapunctus 18”? Contact the artist here.
“Contrapunctus- 18” was left unfinished at the time of Bach’s death.. Hearing it performed is always a shock. Visually, as I produced it, it is not as overt but it trails off without the visual cadence present in the other panels. I considered leaving the very bottom unravelled to accentuate the abrupt interruption but that proved unmanageable and unstable at the time. Mystery will forever surround what the unstated 4th theme was going to be. Consensus among many music scholars is a return to the original theme. It would make sense.
I chose to consider this last contrapunctus as a kind of summation. To that end, each of the weave structures for each of the groups are woven in turn creating “bands” that don’t really occur in the music except as a kind of architecture. Because different weave structures create different tensions, the widths tend to flare.At fist I considered employing a tensioning device but decided against it in favor of letting each structure breathe with the others which creates the flare effect. The last panel has a visual dynamic that sets it apart while still leaving no doubt as to its inclusion.
The 3rd theme is B.A.C.H. In the German scale notation, The letter “B” is Flat, and the letter “H” is B natural. The theme is a tight, almost impossible theme, except in Bach’s mind and hand. Those trailing notes of the second theme starting the next development and fourth them, is where he leaves off__
It remains an awful musical moment for me to this day.
Interested in purchasing “Contrapunctus 18”? Contact the artist here.
“Contrapunctus- 18” was left unfinished at the time of Bach’s death.. Hearing it performed is always a shock. Visually, as I produced it, it is not as overt but it trails off without the visual cadence present in the other panels. I considered leaving the very bottom unravelled to accentuate the abrupt interruption but that proved unmanageable and unstable at the time. Mystery will forever surround what the unstated 4th theme was going to be. Consensus among many music scholars is a return to the original theme. It would make sense.
I chose to consider this last contrapunctus as a kind of summation. To that end, each of the weave structures for each of the groups are woven in turn creating “bands” that don’t really occur in the music except as a kind of architecture. Because different weave structures create different tensions, the widths tend to flare.At fist I considered employing a tensioning device but decided against it in favor of letting each structure breathe with the others which creates the flare effect. The last panel has a visual dynamic that sets it apart while still leaving no doubt as to its inclusion.
The 3rd theme is B.A.C.H. In the German scale notation, The letter “B” is Flat, and the letter “H” is B natural. The theme is a tight, almost impossible theme, except in Bach’s mind and hand. Those trailing notes of the second theme starting the next development and fourth them, is where he leaves off__
It remains an awful musical moment for me to this day.