Beyond B A C H - the Answer of Charles Koechlin

Charles Koechlin (1867-1950)
photo from 1938
Source: Ch. Koechlin Family Archives
no copyright infringement intended
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Koechlin_%281938%29-r.jpg)

He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling, Johann Sebastian Bach, film stars (especially Lilian Harvey and Ginger Rogers), traveling, stereoscopic photography and socialism. He once said: The artist needs an ivory tower, not as an escape from the world, but as a place where he can view the world and be himself. This tower is for the artist like a lighthouse shining out across the world.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Koechlin)

The answer of Koechlin to the challenge of the B A C H motif was his Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op. 187.

Here is a registration with Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart conducted by Heinz Holliger

Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op. 187 (1942, orchestrated 1946) Part 1/2
image: sculpture of Bach by Carl Seffner
(video by The Wellesz Company)
I. Choral sur le thème b-a-c-h
II. Canons sur le nom de BACH
III. Fugue sur le nom de BACH
IV. Passacaille
V. Fugue sur le nom de BACH
VI. Polyphonie en imitations accompagnant le thème: BACH
VII. Feuillet d'album (solo piano)
VIII. Deux leçons d'harmonie sur le nom de BACH
a) Chant donné
b) Basse donnée

Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op. 187 (1942, orchestrated 1946) Part 2/2
image: sculpture of Bach by Carl Seffner
(video by The Wellesz Company)
IX. Divers contrepoints d'école sur des C[hants] D[onnés] avec B A C H
a) Fleuri (rigoureux) à 2 parties
a) bis. Variante sur le même chant donné
b) " Fleuri" (rigoureux) à 3 parties
c) "Fleuri" (rigoureux) à 4 parties
X. Contrepoints plus libres à 4, 5, 6 parties,
avec C[hants] D[onnés] commençant par B A C H
a) Fleuri (libre) à 4 parties
b) Fleuri (libre) à 5 parties
c) Fleuri (libre) à 6 parties
XI. Fugue symétrique sur le nom de BACH
XII. Final

(The B A C H motif)