Fugue and the art of counterpoint are often synonymous with Bach the composer. Certainly, from the perspective of many subsequent generations, he was the first composer to base an entire and complete piece of music on fugue, which often appeared to have no purpose beyond being "purely musical." In a way, this assessment is undoubtedly accurate. While there are numerous fugal compositions predating Bach, very few exhibit the same relentless yet expressive cohesion. Additionally, most compositions outside the realm of keyboard music were connected to a text and liturgical function. There is something about Bach's fugal compositions that inherently aligns them with composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schoenberg. For these composers, earlier counterpoint in the Renaissance tradition served as a model for refined technique rather than a unifying network of musically coherent ideas.