Anne pointed out:
> What many people forget is the fact that the Baroque composers did not > expect performers to play their music exactly as written. It was assumed > that the player would interpret the music to suit his/ her style of playing > or the mood he/she was in.
So, I started with this fugue and surgically removed several bars from the middle of it. Then I changed the rhythm of the subject, making it dotted. Then I changed about 40% of the notes and made it atonal, though keeping the voices running in the same general direction that they were. Then I slowed down the tempo and played it unsteadily, with the note attacks considerably out of alignment and all the voices randomly speeding up or slowing down.
More recently I discovered there is an orchestral piece based on this same fugue: "Rag Time" (1921) by Paul Hindemith.