GENEDU 1004 · Counterpoint: The Architecture of Sound

Led by Johann Sebastian Bach Simulacrum

Is music a language, a mathematics, or a prayer? The architecture of sound explored through Bach's fugues.

1. Module 1

   A Single Voice: Melody and the Subject

   Led by Johann Sebastian Bach Simulacrum

   The question

   What makes a strong musical subject — a melody that can generate an entire fugue? Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 opens with one unaccompanied voice that implies harmony without sounding it. How does a single line contain its own consequences?

   Outcome

   The student can describe what a musical subject is and follow a single voice through a piece.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 Listening: The Cello Suite Prelude Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 1.2 What Makes a Subject Open this unit → ✓ ↻
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2. Module 2

   Two Voices: Invention and Imitation

   Led by Johann Sebastian Bach Simulacrum

   The question

   When a second voice enters, each must be simultaneously independent and harmonious. Bach wrote his Two-Part Inventions as teaching pieces for his teenage son. What is gained by making every voice a melody rather than relegating one to accompaniment?

   Outcome

   The student can track two independent voices and identify imitation between them.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.1 Listening: Invention No. 1 in C major Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 2.2 Independence and Agreement Open this unit → ✓ ↻
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3. Module 3

   The Fugue: Subject, Answer, Countersubject

   Led by Johann Sebastian Bach Simulacrum

   The question

   The fugue is the supreme form of counterpoint — and the most constrained. Every voice must state the subject. The countersubject must work against the answer. The harmonies must agree at every moment. How does the strictness of this form produce emotional power rather than mechanical rigidity?

   Outcome

   The student can follow subject entries through a fugue and describe the relationship between fugal constraint and expressive freedom.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 3.1 Listening: Fugue in C minor (WTC I) Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 3.2 Anatomy of a Fugue Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   3. ○ 3.3 Essay: Constraint and Freedom Open this unit → ✓ ↻
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4. Module 4

   The Well-Tempered Clavier: System and Beauty

   Led by Johann Sebastian Bach Simulacrum

   The question

   Bach wrote 48 Preludes and Fugues — one in every major and minor key — to demonstrate that equal temperament makes all keys playable. Does systematic completeness itself produce aesthetic value, or is it merely a technical demonstration?

   Outcome

   The student can explain equal temperament and evaluate whether systematic completeness produces beauty.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 4.1 Temperament and Compromise Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 4.2 Essay: System as Aesthetic Open this unit → ✓ ↻
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5. Module 5

   The Art of Fugue: The Unfinished Testament

   Led by Johann Sebastian Bach Simulacrum

   The question

   The Art of Fugue takes one subject and subjects it to every contrapuntal procedure Bach knew. The final fugue spells his name in notes: B-A-C-H. The manuscript breaks off mid-bar. Is the incompleteness a tragedy or a final statement — and is music a language, a mathematics, or a prayer?

   Outcome

   The student can describe the Art of Fugue's plan, understands the B-A-C-H subject, and takes a position on the nature of music.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 5.1 The B-A-C-H Subject Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 5.2 Final Essay: Language, Mathematics, or Prayer? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion