Here he wrote that his aim was to instil "the dignity of Harmony" into the fugue and explained its importance both for "the music mechanic" knowing only "the fugue by name", as well as "the contemporary composer, who considers the fugue the child of ancient aberration, [in] the manly element which should prevail in music," as opposed to "the spreading rubbish of womanly song." The attempt at recruiting subscribers, musically well-versed in counterpoint, was again unsuccessful, with hardly thirty copies sold. Disappointed for the second time by the response, C.P.E. Bach sold the plates in 1756. The initiative for publishing the four-part chorales of Bach was different. Possibly didactic in purpose, the four-part chorales were "miniature masterpieces of harmony and voice leading" with "searching harmonies and busy inner parts". The chorales were extracted from Bach's church music by the Berlin circle around C.P.E. Bach. Already in 1709, as a youth in the Arnstadt Consistory, Bach had been scolded for having "made many curious "variatones" in the chorale, and mingled many strange notes in it, and for the fact that the congregation has been confused by it". It is possible that Bach's reluctance to publish any four-part chorales was a consequence of such criticisms. At any rate, even fifteen years after Bach's death, the first editions of the four-part chorales also proved to be controversial and were not well-received, even amongst Bach devotees. After 1750, Marpurg was the first to embark on preparing a published edition of Bach's four-part chorales during the Seven Years' War. Marpurg employed the Berlin publisher Friedrich Wilhelm Birnstiel, using manuscript copies dating from 1758. The project was aborted in 1763, because Marpurg was no longer available, having assumed responsibility for the Royal Prussian Lottery. The first part of the Birnstiel edition was later published in 1765, with C. P. E. Bach in the title page and preface. Bach was, however, dissatisfied with the second part of Birnstiel's 1769 edition. He broke off negotiations and surrendered the manuscript rights to Kirnberger in 1771. Despite Kirnberger's promises to publish Breitkopf's edition during the intervening period (1771–1777), no manuscripts materialised.