J. S. Bach. Engraved full scores of "The Art of Fugue" and "The Musical Offering", Zurich & Leipzig, 1802-1831

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Engraved full scores of the Art of Fugue and the Musical Offering, 2 volumes, Zurich and Leipzig, 1802-1831

1) Die Kunst der Fuge von Johann Sebastian Bach, [BWV 1080], Zurich: Hans Georg Nägeli, [1802], second edition, 183 pages, oblong 4to, engraved in open score with keyboard realization beneath, 12 staves to a page, contemporary black half morocco, manuscript label to cover ("Die Kunst der Fuge von Sebastian Bach"), bibliographical and musicological annotations to flyleaf by G. Neuschild and Marie Hoffmeister, [Hoboken 146; RISM B 523; Hirsch III 64] 

2) Musikalisches Opfer...Neue Ausgabe [BWV 1079], Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, c. 1831, second edition, 45 pages, oblong 4to, engraved in score, plate number 5153, publisher's blue wrappers, [Hoboken 142; RISM B521; not in Hirsch]

J. S. Bach had composed both these monumental works towards the end of his lifetime. The present editions were published as part of the early nineteenth-century revival of interest in Bach's mastery of counterpoint, and in recognition of the rarity of the original versions published just before and after Bach's death.

PROVENANCE

Die Kunst der Fuge: the naturalist and preacher G. Neuschild; gifted by him to Marie Hoffmeister (née Lichtenstein), summer 1837 (presentation note by her to Ernst Rudorff, Wienrode, 10 December 1861)