34 Studies in Fugal Style op. 97 3/2

This edition of the work entitled 34 Études dans le genre fugué (34 Studies in Fugal Style), which we are publishing in four parts, is based on that published in Paris, in two volumes of 17 studies, in 1820, by Érard. That edition begins with a preface written by the composer, followed by 16 remarks on certain of the studies.

We have reproduced that preface and those remarks in the present edition. The work was reissued in 1840 by Schonenberger under the title La Fugue et le Contrepoint mis en pratique et appliqués au Clavier du Piano (Fugue and Counterpoint put into practice and applied to the piano keyboard). Apart from one error of key signature, the notation is identical to that of the 1820 edition. The only important difference is that the remarks are placed next to the study they refer to.

Just like the preludes and fugues of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, each study consists of two parts, the second of which is, in the great majority of cases, a fugue or, at least, fugal in style. In 24 of the studies, the two parts are in exactly the same key; in the others, one is the major or minor of the other. Unlike that of Bach’s work, the sequence of keys here does not seem to have any particular structure.