what is the best book of fugue? help please..

[fenz]

i want to buy a book about fugue. what book do you recommended? thanks 

[ongaku_oniko]

welltempered clavier books I and II?

[quantum]

Do you want scores of fugues?  In which case ongaku_oniko's suggestion would be a sensible place to start.

Or do you want books on how to compose fugues?

[keyboardclass]

Bullivant

[fenz]

i'm so sorry, i forgot to mention that i need a textbook about fugue. i want to learn about the elements of fugue and how to compose a fugue. thanks

[liszt1022]

We used this at university. I kept mine after the class.
It's very detailed and starts with basic melody writing, two- and three-voiced counterpoint including canon and inversion, etc etc up to lengthy fugue discussion.
https://www.amazon.com/Counterpoint-4th-Kent-Kennan/dp/013080746X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301032439&sr=8-1

Edit: Oof, forgot it's college textbook priced.

Anyway, if you really want to write a fugue, start by immersing yourself in fugues. You might be able to pick up some rules and ideas similar to foreign language study - don't forget the Baroque composers didn't write with rules, just that it sounded right. But they knew it sounded right because their whole life was immersed in Baroque counterpoint. So most of us today need a guidebook.

[quantum]

This public domain book may give you a start in dealing with counterpoint:
https://www.archive.org/details/counterpointstri00prouuoft

[Derek]

Here are two books I've found at least marginally useful:

The Langloz Manuscript: Fugal Improvisation through Figured Bass

Continuo Playing According to Handel

These are reproductions of teaching practice from the baroque era, when they were immersed in counterpoint as liszt1022 said. The Handel book is probably better if you're starting out, but introduces fugal improvisation later on.

I also found this archive recently:
Monuments of Partimenti

I actually can't say I've found these as useful as my own experiments, but I've picked up some "hints" from them that helped me learn that the way composers back then thought was a lot simpler, and much less ridden with over-analysis than modern theory books tend to be. So at the very least, reading these can help "take the pressure off" and make more theoretical books less intimidating as a result.

[fenz]

thanks all, it helps me so much

[pianoplayjl]

What about art of the fugue?