no means limited to fugal composition; being frequently found
in all large symphonic works of the classic and modern school.
For a magnificent example of the climactic effect produced by a
Stretto, witness the last part of Bach’s Fugue in G major (see
Supplement, Ex. No. 16).
Although there is considerable complexity in any complete fugue,
and although it requires great concentration on the part of the
listener, we should avoid thinking of the form as mechanical in
any derogatory sense, but rather as a means to a definite artistic
end. Certainly no greater mistake can be made than that of con-
sidering Bach, the supreme master of polyphonic writing, as too
austere, too involved, for the delight and edification of every-day
mortals. Bach means brook, and the name[41] is most appro-
priate; for Bach is a never ceasing stream of musical life, the
fountain-head from which spring the leading tendencies of mod-
ern music. In these days when stress is laid on the romantic ele-
ment in music, on warm emotional appeal, it is well to consider
the quality so prevalent in Bach of spiritual vitality. Exactly be-
cause the romantic element represents the human side of music,
it is subject to the whims of fashion and is liable to change and
decay. Bach carries us into the realm of universal ideas, inex-
haustible and changeless in their power to exalt. Schumann says
that “Music owes to Bach what a religion owes to its founder”;
and it is true that a knowledge of Bach is the beginning of musi-
cal wisdom. By some, Bach is considered dry or too reserved for
companionship with ordinary human beings. Others carelessly
assert that he has no melody. Nothing can be further from the
truth than these two misconceptions. Bach surely is not dry,
because his work abounds in such vitality of rhythm. As Parry
says, in his biography, “No composer ever attained to anything
approaching the spontaneity, freshness, and winsomeness of his
dances, such as the gavottes, bourrées, passepieds and gigues in
the suites; while many of his great choruses and instrumental
fugues are inspired with a force of rhythmic movement which
thrills the hearer with a feeling of being swept into space out of
the range of common things.” The charge of a lack of melody
is the same which used to be brought against Wagner. Instead
of there being no melody, it isallmelody, so that the partially
musical, who lack the power of sustained attention, are drowned
in the flood of melodic outpouring. A strong claim, in fact, may
be made for Bach as apopularcomposer in the best sense of
the term. Many of his colossal works, to be sure, are heard