Room left for imagining

Re: “A different approach to fugues,” Mark Morris review, June 25 I commend Alexandra Munn and Michael Massey for this pleasurable evening, which was very much in the spirit and style of J.S. Bach himself, who constantly transcribed and reworked his own and other composers’ music.

This review does not take into account that this music was not designated specifically for the harpsichord, but for “clavier,” which could be clavichord, harpsichord or even the emerging “Hammerklavier.” According to Bach’s sons, Bach himself preferred the clavichord for its flexibility in tonal nuance — something akin to what the piano can do — over the harpsichord, which he found “seelenlos” (without soul).

Since Bach did not compose at an instrument, but heard the music in his head, it leaves room for imagining. Jacobus Kloppers, professor emeritus, The King’s University, Edmonton