Fantasia contrappuntistica

Fantasia contrappuntistica
Solo piano piece by Ferruccio Busoni
The composer in 1906
Catalogue	BV 256
Composed	1910 (1910)

Fantasia contrappuntistica (BV 256) is a solo piano piece composed by Ferruccio Busoni in 1910. Busoni created a number of versions of the work, including several for solo piano and one for two pianos. It has been arranged for organ and for orchestra since the composer's death.

The work is in large part a homage to Johann Sebastian Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge. Conversely, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Opus clavicembalisticum appears to be a homage to Fantasia contrappuntistica. Busoni dedicated the work to Wilhelm Middelschulte, "Meister des Kontrapunktes".

The composer Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988) also wrote a Fantasia Contrappuntistica ("Homage to Bach", Op.24) for piano, which won the first prize at the Bolzano Piano Competition (1956), premiered by Maurizio Pollini.

Fantasia contrappuntistica is written in twelve parts, and takes about 25 minutes to perform:

The first ten pages of the introductory "Preludio corale" are nearly identical to the Third Elegy with a few small cuts and alterations, including the removal of all German expression marks or their translation into Italian. In the third fugue, there is a returning melody composed of four notes, which are B♭, A, C, and B♮. These four notes spell Bach in German, where the H is the B♮, and are commonly known as the B-A-C-H motif.

The manuscripts in Busoni's hand are in the Berlin State Library as part of the Busoni Archive.