Improvising Fugue: A Method for Keyboard Artists is a guide for those who aspire to the highest levels of fluency as inventors of spontaneous music at the piano, fortepiano, harpsichord, organ, or digital keyboard. Written for professional performers, conservatory students, and devoted amateurs, this book leads the reader along the arduous journey from score dependency to improvisational freedom. Improvising Fugue begins with a comprehensive course in 18th century Italian partimento, the system of musicianship training that simultaneously strengthens improvisation, counterpoint, harmony, keyboard skills, and audiation. The reader then encounters fugue improvisation in a gradual, methodical, and rigorous manner. Every concept is accompanied by extensive and clear explanation, examples from music literature, and practical exercises. The book covers every aspect of fugue improvisation in depth, including subjects, countersubjects, tonal and real answers, episodes, presentations, pedal points, and stretti. Author John J. Mortensen draws on experience as a concert improviser on the international stage; the book's pragmatic, real-world instruction comes from a seasoned performer who knows firsthand exactly what is required to improvise fugues in the presence of a live audience.

About the Author
John J. Mortensen is a leader in the revival of historic improvisation. He is noted for his ability to improvise entire concerts. He frequently teaches and performs internationally. He is the author of The Pianist's Guide to Historic Improvisation, now in use as a course text at many leading conservatories. He is the creator of Improv Planet, an online school of historic improvisation, where his students include concert artists and conservatory faculty from across the world.

Reviews
Mortensen has done it again! As in The Pianist's Guide to Historical Improvisation, he wryly de-mystifies the process of historically informed musical creation, and provides a richly informed, yet practical and step-by-step guide to understanding and improvising music, this time confronting the apex of musical forms: the fugue. Full of examples from the repertoire, and inventive, practical, progressive exercises and helpful explanations, this is a perfect present-day guide for students, teachers, and musicians who want to roll up their sleeves and get inside the art and craft of fugal creation. * Yi-heng Yang, Faculty of Keyboard Studies and Improvisation, The Juilliard School *
Improvising music is one thing. Improvising a fugue is quite another, so remarkable as to be thought of as being possible only by such musical gods as J. S. Bach, even in his own day. And yet, musicians of the past aspired towards it through study and exercise, knowing that the insights and abilities thus gained would be invaluable-and many, more than we know, were actually able to do it. John Mortensen has shown a path in Improvising Fugue that makes this pinnacle visible and even reachable. This book will be your constant companion in this ultimate endeavor. * Peter Sykes, Faculty, Boston University, University of Michigan, The Juilliard School *
It's a well-known fact. Many old masters, such as J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Durante, Beethoven, or Liszt, all learned and taught keyboard improvisation. Dr. John Mortensen's Improvising Fugue: A Method for Keyboard Artists will greatly contribute to the revival of these skills, once so essential to the art of piano playing. * Peter van Tour, author of Counterpoint and Partimento *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197645239
Author John J. Mortensen
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 1094g
Dimensions(mm) 287mm * 220mm * 24mm