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Contretänze (1985) |
ensemble - 15'
Ten of the eleven sections in Contretänze are based on thematic material from ten fugues of Bach's Forty Eight. The eleventh retrospectively examines all the others. They were written as a homage to JSB in his tercentenary in 1985. The piece, which is dedicated to Tom Morgan, is an essay in the control and strictures of hard-line counterpoint, and was commissioned and first performed by Gregory Rose and his group Circle.
To alleviate the severity of the musical material, I perversely chose a title from Mozart's Occasional Dance Tunes, the varied resonances of which in itself fascinated me. Apart from the intended meaning "country dances", the word Contretänze could also be a composite of two words in French and German, which would then translate as "against dances" or perhaps "contrary dances". With such a title the use of fugal material from Bach is certainly contrary; but there again, Mozart admired Bach and used counterpoint even in lightweight pieces. And then the dance-like character of much of the "Well Tempered Clavier" makes a nonsense of regarding fugue only as deadly serious - and so on, into the byways of ideological argument.
© Michael Finnissy