4 ms·

I can understand when there are 2 voices, but when there are 4 independent voices how on Earth does one follow them.

• gatlin 1y ago
  I prefer to simply be taken along.
• moritzwarhier 1y ago
  It happens when you don't think about it. Practising Bach's music certainly helps. But yes, just letting it flow and paying attention without trying to learn or remember anything, is probably the best answer. It's like an orchestra (or the different sections of one), the melodies are written to fit together perfectly. There are many almost "poppy" feeling fugues in the Well-tempered clavier with four voices. In comparison, The Art of Fugue feels more academic and dry to me personally. I still like it, but don't feel as connected to it in as to many of his other works. Tangent ahead: even good pop songs require melodies that are more than just homophonic. Best example in rock, pop, disco for this are good bass lines I think. Incidentally, "bass lines" are also an important fixture in the history of baroque music. I'm not preaching here, I'm not good at music theory or playing music. But I think many pop songs also follow counterpoint rules, at least to a degree. There are also varying degrees of strictness regarding these rules in Bach's music. It doesn't need to be an academic puzzle as many make it out to be, I think the intent was to formalize how to write good music for multiple voices. All that said ... you are still right :D But it's even more impressive the way solo keyboard artists can articulate these voices. Not to mention the organists.
• RogerL 1y ago
  It's a life endeavor that you will never master. start at age 4 playing minuet in G, at age of 90 you'll still be learning new things. The music is beyond us, yet ourselves, to paraphrase Wallace Stevens. All we can do is enjoy the ride.