Topic: Glenn Gould plays J.S. Bach’s Fugue in E major, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2 J.S. Bach’s renowned composition, The Well-Tempered Clavier, depicts a wide variety of color, technique, and style from a musical perspective. The piece “is a kind of encyclopedia of fugue composition, in which the greatest master of the genre tried out almost ever technique and style available to it,” (Kerman 133) and many pianists and modern composers still look back to perform and analyze the varying forms, textures, and devices Bach used to reinterpret his work. One particular pianist, Glenn Gould, established his career performing Bach’s compositions from the 1950s onward. In performing Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Gould was able to clearly redefine the musical personality in each subject by mirroring it after his own. Indeed, by articulating Bach’s contrapuntal textures, maintaining the tempo in an imitative manner, and playing with precise finger technique, Glenn Gould demonstrates in Bach’s Fugue in E Major, The Well-Tempered Clavier, his personal demeanor as eccentric, obsessive, and obstinate.
Gould’s articulation of Bach’s contrapuntal textures is characterized by his stark entrances of each subject of the fugue, as well as his paralleling of the voices in the same dynamics by both hands; these distinct characteristics exemplify Gould’s eccentric personality as he similarly had almost two minds – one for his musical career and one for his personal life. As the piece begins with the left hand introducing the subject in forte, Gould gradually decrescendos this first introduction as the right hand enters with a stark entrance echoing the subject. As the piece goes on, we hear Gould exchanging the subject between both his hands with energy and in an imitative polyphonic manner, with both repetition in dynamic and rhythm apparent to keep homogeneity. Gould’s interpretation of contrapuntal texture similarly parallels his approach to music and his own personality. It was widely noted that he had a “contrapuntal mind” (Howes), where even during his own performing sessions he would lift up his countering hand and make conductor-like gestures to show as if each hand had its own mentality and playing technique of its own. He had several eccentricities, such as either humming or singing to himself while playing, displayed eroticism so intense that it made some that watched him play uncomfortable, and wore coats and scarves during the summer. From a musician standpoint he was a mad genius, but on a social level he was reclusive and awkward. Nevertheless, it was his unique interpretation of every piece that defined his musical career and recordings.
Just as texture is repeated throughout the piece, Gould maintains the tempo and tone color in an imitative manner. His way of maintaining the same phrasing correlates with his distaste for change and social norms, and rigid structure of his personal life. While Bach actually wrote The Well-Tempered Clavier so that it could allow for alternative performing forces, Gould performed this piece on the traditional piano and preferred to stick to musical recordings rather than live performances. As he performs this piece, the consistency with his tempo actually strays from how Bach had interpreted the piece: “E Major is a key for which Bach developed his own sense of affect…The sixteenth notes should be grouped in legato sets of four, and played with a subtle sense of flexibility” (Goldberg 5). Gould seems to be playing rather dutifully, with each stretto echoing the previous voice with little to no ornamentation or change. This in return parallels his obsession with musical structure: “Ever the idealist, he [Gould] seems to have equated musical meaning with musical structure, and structure was to be found in the work’s notation – its pitches and rhythms – rather than its performance markings…When preparing a performance, Gould seems first to have interpreted the work on the basis of its notation alone…” (Bazzana 38). Likewise, he conducted his life in an obsessive and rigid manner, isolating himself most of the time and preferring to telephone his friends over talking to them. He was known to hate strong display of emotions, was very critical of other composers, and seldom confined to any social norms. No one really understood him, as Peter Ostwald wrote in his biography of him: “Gould remains a puzzle, and I suspect he was largely a puzzle to himself – a compulsive self-examiner who avoided or failed to see the source of his drive and obsessions” (Ostwald 3). Lastly, Gould was most noted for being obstinate and quitting his stage career in 9 years, as he believed the clarity and appreciation of music were lost in the concert environment. As he performs this fugue, we are able to hear each note clearly as it is tapped, which resulted from his persistence in practicing his finger separation technique that he used to devote himself entirely to in his recordings. Aside from playing the entire piece with no pedal, Gould emphasizes the transposition of the subject with staccatos and accents so that no note is overlooked. In the title, Clavier means any kind of key board instrument, and for Bach “perhaps the most important implication for these instruments is this: clarity and texture were undoubtedly the most important tools for expression. Since each pitch is dynamically equal on the harpsichord and organ…” (Goldberg 4). Gould’s ability to master this finger technique and perform this fugue in such a manner once again reflects his overbearing nature, as it was noted he once told a friend he practiced his finger-tapping Goldberg Variations for thirty-two hours before recording it. Despite his friends’ attempts to bring him back to the stage, Gould remained adamant to his decision and strived to execute his form of performing with clarity though recordings. Ultimately, in performing Bach’s Fugue in E Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Glenn Gould manifests his interpretation to portray his own character. His articulation of contrapuntal textures in the piece successfully mirrors his “contrapuntal mindset” (Howes), and his repetitive phrasing and finger technique respectively reflect his distaste for change in his music and personal life, obsession with structure, and obstinate behavior. He was an incredibly successful individual, even noted as mad at times, but his performances and complex personality were nonetheless what defined his career and extraordinary legacy even up to this day.