Fugue 1

Fugue

A six-part fugue from The Musical Offering, inthe hand of Johann Sebastian Bach.

In music, a fugue (  /ˈfjuːɡ/ fewg) is a compositional technique (inclassical music) in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) thatis introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at differentpitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition.

The English term fugue originated in the 16th century and is derivedfrom either the French word fugue or the Italian fuga. This in turncomes from Latin, also fuga, which is itself related to both fugere (‘toflee’) and fugare, (‘to chase’).[1] The adjectival form is fugal.[2]

Variants include fughetta (literally, 'a small fugue') and fugato (apassage in fugal style within another work that is not a fugue).[3]

A fugue usually has three sections: an exposition, a development, and arecapitulation containing the return of the subject in the fugue's tonickey, though not all fugues have a recapitulation.[4] In the Middle Ages, the term was widely used to denote anyworks in canonic style; by the Renaissance, it had come to denote specifically imitative works.[5] Since the 17thcentury,[6] the term fugue has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure ofimitative counterpoint.[7]

Most fugues open with a short main theme, the subject,[8] which then sounds successively in each voice (after thefirst voice is finished stating the subject, a second voice repeats the subject at a different pitch, and other voicesrepeat in the same way); when each voice has entered, the exposition is complete. This is often followed by aconnecting passage, or episode, developed from previously heard material; further "entries" of the subject then areheard in related keys. Episodes (if applicable) and entries are usually alternated until the "final entry" of the subject,by which point the music has returned to the opening key, or tonic, which is often followed by closing material, thecoda.[3] [9] In this sense, a fugue is a style of composition, rather than a fixed structure.The form evolved during the 18th century from several earlier types of contrapuntal compositions, such as imitativericercars, capriccios, canzonas, and fantasias.[10] The famous fugue composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)shaped his own works after those of Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–1667), Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706),Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643), Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707), and other composers.[10] With the declineof sophisticated styles at the end of the baroque period, the fugue's popularity waned, eventually giving way tosonata form.[11] Nevertheless, composers from the 1750s to the present day continue to write and study fugues forvarious purposes; they appear in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)[11] and Ludwig vanBeethoven (1770–1827).[11] Many composers such as Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), Anton Reicha (1770–1836)and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) wrote cycles of fugues.[12]

Musical outlineA fugue begins with the exposition and is written according to certain predefined rules; in later portions thecomposer has more freedom, though a logical key structure is usually followed. Further entries of the subject willoccur throughout the fugue, repeating the accompanying material at the same time.[13] The various entries may ormay not be separated by episodes.What follows is a chart displaying a fairly typical fugal outline, and an explanation of the processes involved increating this structure.

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Example of Key/Entry Structure, in a Three-Voice Baroque Fugue

Exposition 1st Middle-Entry 2ndMiddle-Entry

Final Entries in Tonic

Tonic Dom. T (D-redundantentry)

RelativeMaj/Min

Dom. ofRel.

Subdom. T T

Sop. Subj. CS1 CODETTA

CS² A EPISODE

CS1 CS² EPISODE

S EPISODE

CS1 FreeCounterpoint

CODAAlto Ans. CS1 CS² S CS1 CS² S CS1

Bass S CS1 CS² A CS1 CS² S

The expositionA fugue begins with the exposition of its subject in one of the voices alone in the tonic key.[14] After the statement ofthe subject, a second voice enters and states the subject with the subject transposed to another (often closely related)key, which is known as the answer.[15] [16] To make the music run smoothly, it may also have to be altered slightly.When the answer is an exact copy of the subject to the dominant, it is classified as a real answer; if it has to bealtered in any way it is a tonal answer.[14]

Example of a tonal answer in J.S. Bach's Fugue No. 16 in G Minor, BWV 861, from the Well-TemperedClavier, Book 1. ( Listen )

The first note of the subject, D (in red), is a prominent dominant note, demanding that the first note of theanswer (in blue) sounds as the tonic, G, rather than A.

A tonal answer is usually called for when the subject begins with a prominent dominant note, or where there is aprominent dominant note very close to the beginning of the subject.[14] To prevent an undermining of the music'ssense of key, this note is transposed up a fourth to the tonic rather than up a fifth to the supertonic. Answers in thesubdominant are also employed for the same reason.[17]

While the answer is being stated, the voice in which the subject was previously heard continues with new material. Ifthis new material is reused in later statements of the subject, it is called a countersubject; if this accompanyingmaterial is only heard once, it is simply referred to as free counterpoint.

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The interval of a fifth inverts to a fourth (dissonant) and therefore cannot be employed ininvertible counterpoint, without preparation and resolution.

The countersubject is written ininvertible counterpoint at the octave orfifteenth.[18] The distinction is madebetween the use of free counterpointand regular countersubjectsaccompanying the fuguesubject/answer, because in order for acountersubject to be heardaccompanying the subject in more thanone instance, it must be capable ofsounding correctly above or below the subject, and must be conceived, therefore, in invertible or doublecounterpoint.[14] [19] In tonal music invertible contrapuntal lines must be written according to certain rules becauseseveral intervallic combinations, while acceptable in one particular orientation, are no longer permissible wheninverted. For example, when the note "G" sounds in one voice above the note "C" in lower voice, the interval of afifth is formed, which is considered consonant and entirely acceptable. When this interval is inverted ("C" in theupper voice above "G" in the lower), it forms a fourth, considered a dissonance in tonal contrapuntal practice, andrequires special treatment, or preparation and resolution, if it is to be used.[20] The countersubject, if sounding at thesame time as the answer, is transposed to the pitch of the answer.[21] Each voice then responds with its own subjector answer, and further countersubjects or free counterpoint may be heard.

When a tonal answer is used, it is customary for the exposition to alternate subjects (S) with answers (A), however,in some fugues this order is occasionally varied: e.g., see the SAAS arrangement of Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV846, from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 by J. S. Bach. A brief codetta is often heard connecting the variousstatements of the subject and answer. This allows the music to run smoothly. The codetta, just as the other parts ofthe exposition, can be used throughout the rest of the fugue.[22]

The first answer must occur as soon after the initial statement of the subject as possible; therefore the first codetta isoften extremely short, or not needed. In the above example this is the case: the subject finishes on the quarter note(or crotchet) B-flat of the third beat of the second bar which harmonizes the opening G of the answer. The latercodettas may be considerably longer, and often serve to (a) develop the material heard so far in the subject/answerand countersubject and possibly introduce ideas heard in the second countersubject or free counterpoint that follows(b) delay, and therefore heighten the impact of the reentry of the subject in another voice as well as modulating backto the tonic.[23]

The exposition usually concludes when all voices have given a statement of the subject or answer. In some fugues,the exposition will end with a redundant entry, or an extra presentation of the theme.[14] Furthermore, in some fuguesthe entry of one of the voices may be reserved until later, for example in the pedals of an organ fugue (see J. S.Bach's Fugue in C major for Organ, BWV 547). Opening with the subject stated in the bass, while unusual, is to bepreferred when other actions would present illegal inversions in the exposition.

The episodeFurther entries of the subject follow this initial exposition, either immediately (as for example in Fugue No. 1 in Cmajor, BWV 846 of the Well-Tempered Clavier), or separated by episodes.[14] Episodic material is alwaysmodulatory and is usually based upon some element heard in the exposition.[9] [14] Each episode has primarily thefunction of transitioning for the next entry of the subject in a new key,[14] and may also provide release from thestrictness of form employed in the exposition, and middle-entries.[24] Gédalge states that the episode of the fugue isgenerally based on a series of imitations of the subject that have been fragmented.[25]

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The developmentFurther entries of the subject, or middle entries, occur throughout the fugue, must state the subject or answer at leastonce in its entirety, and may also be heard in combination with the countersubject(s) from the exposition, newcountersubjects, free counterpoint or any of these in combination. It is uncommon for the subject to enter alone in asingle voice in the middle-entries just as it is in the exposition; rather it is usually heard with at least one of thecountersubjects and/or other free contrapuntal accompaniments. Middle-entries tend to occur at pitches other thanthe initial—as shown in the typical structure above, these are often closely related keys such as the relative dominantand subdominant, but key structure of fugues varies greatly. In the fugues of J. S. Bach the first middle-entry verycommonly occurs in the relative major or minor of the work's overall key, and is followed by an entry the dominantof the relative major or minor when the fugue's subject requires a tonal answer. In the fugues of earlier composers(notably Buxtehude and Pachelbel), middle entries in keys other than the tonic and dominant tend to be theexception, and non-modulation the norm. One of the famous examples of such non-modulating fugue occurs inBuxtehude's Praeludium (Fugue and Chaconne) in C, BuxWV 137.When there is no entrance of the subject and answer material, the composer can develop the subject by altering thesubject . This is called an episode,[26] often by inversion, although the term is sometimes used synonymously withmiddle-entry and may also describe the exposition of completely new subjects, as in a double fugue for example (seebelow). In any of the entries within a fugue the subject may be altered, by inversion, retrograde (a less common formwhere the entire subject is heard back-to-front) and diminution (the reduction of the subject's rhythmic values by acertain factor), augmentation (the increase of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor) or any combination ofthem.[14]

Example and analysisThe excerpt below, bars 7–12 of J. S. Bach's Fugue no. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from the Well-Tempered Clavier,Book 1 illustrates the application of most of the characteristics described above. The fugue is for keyboard and inthree voices, with regular countersubjects.[9] [27] This excerpt opens at last entry of the exposition: the subject issounding in the bass, the first countersubject in the treble, while the middle-voice is stating a second version of thesecond countersubject, which concludes with the characteristic rhythm of the subject, and is always used togetherwith the first version of the second countersubject. Following this an episode modulates from the tonic to the relativemajor by means of sequence, in the form of an accompanied canon at the fourth.[28] Arrival in E-flat major is markedby a quasi perfect cadence across the barline, from the last quarter note beat of the first bar to the first beat of thesecond bar in the second system, and the first middle entry. Here Bach has altered countersubject 2 to accommodatethe change of mode.[29]

Visual Analysis of J.S. Bach's Fugue no. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book1(bars 7–12)( Listen )

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False entriesAt any point in the fugue there may be false entries of the subject, which include the start of the subject but are notcompleted. False entries are often abbreviated to the head of the subject, and anticipate the "true" entry of thesubject, heightening the impact of the subject proper.[17]

Example of a false answer in J. S. Bach's Fugue no. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from the Well-Tempered Clavier,Book 1. This passage is bars 6/7, at the end of the codetta before the first entry of the third voice, the bass, in

the exposition. The false entry occurs in the alto, and consists of the head of the subject only, marked in red. Itanticipates the true entry of the subject, marked in blue, by one quarter-note.

Counter-expositionThe counter-exposition is a second exposition, however, there are only two entries, and the entries occur in reverseorder.[30] The counter-exposition in a fugue is separated from the exposition by an episode, and is in the same key asthe original exposition.[30]

StrettoSometimes counter-expositions or the middle entries take place in stretto, whereby one voice responds with thesubject/answer before the first voice has completed its entry of the subject/answer, usually increasing the intensity ofthe music.[31]

Example of stretto fugue in a quotation from Fugue in C major by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer who diedin 1746. The subject, including an eighth note rest, is seen in the alto voice, starting on beat 1 bar 1 and endingon beat 1 bar 3, which is where the answer would usually be expected to begin. As this is a stretto the answer

already takes place in the tenor voice, on the third quarter note of the first bar, therefore coming in "early".

Only one entry of the subject must be heard in its completion in a stretto. However, a stretto in which thesubject/answer is heard in completion in all voices is known as stretto maestrale or grand stretto.[32] Strettos mayalso occur by inversion, augmentation and diminution. A fugue in which the opening exposition takes place in strettoform is known as a close fugue or stretto fugue (see for example, the Gratias agimus tibi and Dona nobis pacemchoruses from Bach's Mass in B Minor).[33] In general, fugues that are densely strettoed will not containcountersubjects, and vice versa. One notable exception is the E Major fugue from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier,Book II, which initially exposes the subject accompanied by its countersubject, followed by counterexposition of thetwo ideas, separated in time, and each in stretto with itself.

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Final entries and codaThe closing section of a fugue often includes one or two counter-expositions, and possibly a stretto, in the tonic;sometimes over a tonic or dominant pedal note. Any material that follows the final entry of the subject is consideredto be the final coda and is normally cadential.[9]

Types of fugue

Double (triple, quadruple) fugueA double fugue has two subjects that are often developed simultaneously; similarly, it follows that a triple fugue hasthree subjects.[34] [35] There are two kinds of double fugue: (a) a fugue in which the second subject is presentedsimultaneously with the subject in the exposition (e.g. as in Kyrie Eleison of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor), and (b)a fugue in which the second subject has its own exposition at some later point, and the two subjects are not combineduntil later (see for example, fugue no. 14 in f-sharp minor from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, or morefamously, Bach's "St. Anne" Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 552.)[34] [36]

Counter-fugueA counter-fugue is a fugue in which the first answer is presented as the subject in inversion, and the inverted subjectcontinues to feature prominently throughout the fugue.[37] Examples include Contrapunctus V throughContrapunctus VII, from Bach's The Art of Fugue.[38]

Permutation fuguePermutation fugue describes a type of composition (or technique of composition) in which elements of fugue andstrict canon are combined.[39] Each voice enters in succession with the subject, each entry alternating between tonicand dominant, and each voice, having stated the initial subject, continues by stating two or more themes (orcountersubjects), which must be conceived in correct invertible counterpoint. Each voice takes this pattern and statesall the subjects/themes in the same order (and repeats the material when all the themes have been stated, sometimesafter a rest). There is usually very little non-structural/thematic material. During the course of a permutation fugue, itis quite uncommon, actually, for every single possible voice-combination (or 'permutation') of the themes to beheard. This limitation exists in consequence of sheer proportionality: the more voices in a fugue, the greater theamount of possible permutations. In consequence, composers exercise editorial judgment as to the most musical ofpermutations and processes leading thereto. One example of permutation fugue can be seen in the opening chorus ofBach’s cantata, Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV182.Permutation fugues differ from conventional fugue in that there are no connecting episodes, nor statement of thethemes in related keys.[39] The fugue of Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 is unusual in this sense, sinceit does have episodes between permutation expositions.Invertible counterpoint is one of the main technical devices used in permutation fugue not in the conventionalfugue.[40]

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FughettaA fughetta is a short fugue that has the same characteristics as a fugue. Often the contrapuntal writing is not strict,and the setting less formal. See for example, variation 24 of Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" Op. 120.

History

Middle Ages and Renaissance PeriodThe term fuga was used as far back as the Middle Ages, but was initially used to refer to any kind of imitativecounterpoint, including canons, which are now thought of as distinct from fugues.[41] Prior to the 16th century, fuguewas originally a genre.[42] It was not until the 16th century that fugal technique as it is understood today began to beseen in pieces, both instrumental and vocal. Fugal writing is found in works such as fantasias, ricercares andcanzonas."Fugue" as a theoretical term first occurred in 1330 when Jacobus of Liege wrote about the fuga in his Speculummusicae.[43] The fugue arose from the technique of "imitation", where the same musical material was repeatedstarting on a different note. Zarlino, a composer, author, and theorist in the Renaissance, was one of the first todistinguish between the two types of imitative counterpoint; fugues and canons(which he called imitations).[42]

Originally this was to aid improvisation, but by the 1550s, it was considered a technique of composition. TheRenaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525?-1594) wrote masses using modal counterpoint andimitation, and fugal writing became the basis for writing motets as well.[44] Palestrina's imitative motets differedfrom fugues in that each phrase of the text had a different subject which was introduced and worked out separately,whereas a fugue continued working with the same subject or subjects throughout the entire length of the piece.

Baroque eraIt was in the Baroque period that the writing of fugues became central to composition, in part as a demonstration ofcompositional expertise. Fugues were incorporated into a variety of musical forms. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck,Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Jakob Froberger and Dieterich Buxtehude all wrote fugues,[45] and George FridericHandel included them in many of his oratorios. Keyboard suites from this time often conclude with a fugal gigue.The French overture featured a quick fugal section after a slow introduction. The second movement of a sonata dachiesa, as written by Arcangelo Corelli and others, was usually fugal.The Baroque period also saw a rise in the importance of music theory. Some fugues during the Baroque period werepieces designed to teach contrapuntal technique to students.[46] The most influential text was published by JohannJoseph Fux (1660–1741), his Gradus Ad Parnassum ("Steps to Parnassus"), which appeared in 1725.[47] This worklaid out the terms of "species" of counterpoint, and offered a series of exercises to learn fugue writing.[48] Fux's workwas largely based on the practice of Palestrina's modal fugues.[49] It remained influential into the nineteenth century.Haydn, for example, taught counterpoint from his own summary of Fux, and thought of it as the basis for formalstructure.Johann Sebastian Bach often entered into contests where he would be given a subject with which to spontaneouslyimprovise a fugue on the organ or harpsichord. This musical form was also apparent in chamber music he wouldlater compose for Weimar; the famous Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (BWV 1043) (although not contrapuntalin its entirety) has a fugal opening section to its first movement.Bach's most famous fugues are those for the harpsichord in The Well-Tempered Clavier, which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue.[50] The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two volumes written in different times of Bach's life, each comprising 24 prelude and fugue pairs, one for each major and minor key. Bach is also known for his organ fugues, which are usually preceded by a prelude or toccata. The Art of Fugue is a collection of fugues (and four canons) on a single theme that is gradually transformed as the cycle progresses. Bach also wrote

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smaller single fugues, and put fugues into many of his works that were not fugues per se.Although J. S. Bach was not well known as a composer in his lifetime, his influence extended forward through hisson C.P.E. Bach and through the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795) whose Abhandlung von der Fuge("Treatise on the fugue", 1753) was largely based on J. S. Bach's work.

Classical eraDuring the Classical era, the fugue was no longer a central or even fully natural mode of musical composition.[51]

Nevertheless, both Haydn and Mozart had periods of their careers in which they in some sense "rediscovered" fugalwriting and used it frequently in their work.Haydn was the leader of fugal composition and technique in the Classical era.[52] Haydn's most famous fugues canbe found in his Sun quartets (op. 20, 1772), of which three have fugal finales. This was a practice that Haydnrepeated only once later in his quartet-writing career, with the finale of his quartet op. 50 no. 4 (1787). Some of theearliest examples of Haydn's use of counterpoint, however, are in three symphonies (No. 3, No. 13, and No. 40) thatdate from 1762–63. The earliest fugues, in both the symphonies and in the baryton trios, exhibit the influence ofJoseph Fux's treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), which Haydn studied carefully. Haydn's secondfugal period occurred after he heard, and was greatly inspired by, the oratorios of Handel during his visits to London(1791–1793, 1794–1795). Haydn then studied Handel's techniques and incorporated Handelian fugal writing into thechoruses of his mature oratorios The Creation and The Seasons, as well as several of his later symphonies, includingNo. 88, No. 95, and No. 101.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied counterpoint when young with Padre Martini in Bologna. However, the majorimpetus to fugal writing for Mozart was the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten in Vienna around 1782. VanSwieten, during diplomatic service in Berlin, had taken the opportunity to collect as many manuscripts by Bach andHandel as he could, and he invited Mozart to study his collection and also encouraged him to transcribe variousworks for other combinations of instruments. Mozart was evidently fascinated by these works, and wrote a set oftranscriptions for string trio of fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, introducing them with preludes of hisown. Mozart then set to writing fugues on his own, mimicking the Baroque style. These included the fugues forstring quartet, K. 405 (1782) and a fugue in C Minor K. 426 for two pianos (1783). Later, Mozart incorporated fugalwriting into the finale of his Symphony No. 41 and his opera Die Zauberflöte. The parts of the Requiem he completedalso contain several fugues (most notably the Kyrie, and the three fugues in the Domine Jesu;[53] he also left behind asketch for an Amen fugue which, some believe, would have come at the end of the Sequentia).A common characteristic of the Classical composers is that they usually wrote fugues not as isolated works but aspart of a larger work, often as a sonata-form development section or as a finale. It was also characteristic to abandonfugal texture just before the end of a work, providing a purely homophonic resolution. This is found, for instance, inthe final fugue of the chorus "The Heavens are Telling" in Haydn's The Creation (1798). Ludwig van Beethoven wasfamiliar with fugal writing from childhood, as an important part of his training was playing from The Well-TemperedClavier. During his early career in Vienna, Beethoven attracted notice for his performance of these fugues. There arefugal sections in Beethoven's early piano sonatas, and fugal writing is to be found in the second and fourthmovements of the Eroica Symphony (1805). Beethoven incorporated fugues in his sonatas, and reshaped theepisode’s purpose and compositional technique for later generations of composers.[54] Nevertheless, fugues did nottake on a truly central role in Beethoven's work until his "late period." A massive, dissonant fugue forms the finale ofhis String Quartet, Op. 130 (1825); the latter was later published separately as Op. 133, the Große Fuge ("GreatFugue"). His Cello Sonata, Op. 102,2 have fugue movements. Fugues are also found in the Missa Solemnis and inthe finale of the Ninth Symphony.

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Romantic eraBy the beginning of the Romantic era, fugue writing had become specifically attached to the norms and styles of theBaroque.One manual explicitly stated that the hallmark of contrapuntal style was the style of J. S. Bach. The 19th century'staste for academicism–setting of forms and norms by explicit rules–found Marpurg, and the fugue, to be a congenialtopic. The writing of fugues also remained an important part of musical education throughout the 19th century,particularly with the publication of the complete works of Bach and Handel, and the revival of interest in Bach'smusic.Examples of fugal writing in the Romantic era are found in the last movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique,and Wagner's Meistersinger, in particular the triple fugue at the conclusion of the second act. The finale of GiuseppeVerdi's opera Falstaff is a ten-voice fugue. Felix Mendelssohn was obsessed with fugal writing, as it can be foundprominently in the Scottish Symphony, Italian Symphony, and the Hebrides Overture. In the last movement of hisFifth Symphony Anton Bruckner wrote the development section in form of a big double fugue. The unfinished Finaleof his Ninth Symphony has a fugue section, too. Another composer of this time, whose work is strongly influenced byfugal textures, was Felix Draeseke. Especially in his church music highly artificial fugues could be found.Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms also included fugues in many of their works. Towards the end of theRomantic era, Richard Strauss included a fugue in his tone poem, Also sprach Zarathustra, to represent the highintelligence of science. Sergei Rachmaninoff, despite writing in a lush post-romantic idiom, was highly skilled incounterpoint (as is highly evident in his Vespers); a well known fugue occurs in his Symphony No. 2. AlexanderGlazunov wrote a very difficult Prelude and Fugue in D minor, his Op. 62, for the piano.

20th centuryTwentieth-century fugue writing explored many of the directions implied by Beethoven's Große Fuge, and whatcame to be termed "free counterpoint" as well as "dissonant counterpoint."The late-Romantic composer Max Reger had the closest association with the fugue among his contemporaries. Manyof his organ works contain, or are themselves fugues. Two of Reger's most-played orchestral works, the Hillervariations and the Mozart variations, end with a large-scale orchestral fugue. Twentieth-century composers broughtfugue back to its position of prominence, realizing its uses in full instrumental works, its importance in developmentand introductory sections, and the developmental capabilities of fugal composition.[51]

A number of other 20th-century composers made extensive use of the fugue. Béla Bartók opened his Music forStrings, Percussion and Celesta with a fugue based on alternating ascending and descending fifth series. He alsoincluded fugal sections in the final movements of his String Quartet No. 1, String Quartet No. 5, Concerto forOrchestra, and Piano Concerto No. 3. The second movement of his Sonata for Solo Violin is also a fugue. TheCzech composer Jaromir Weinberger studied fugue with Max Reger, and had an uncommonly facile skill in fugalwriting. The fugue of the "Polka and Fugue" from his opera "Schwanda the Bagpiper" is an example.Igor Stravinsky also incorporated fugues into his works, including the Symphony of Psalms and the Dumbarton Oaksconcerto. Stravinsky recognized the compositional techniques of Bach, and in the second movement of his Symphonyof Psalms, he lays out a fugue that is much like that of the Baroque era.[55] It employs a double fugue with twodistinct subjects, the first beginning in C and the second in E♭. Techniques such as stretto, sequencing, and the use ofsubject incipits are frequently heard in the movement.The practice of writing fugue cycles in the manner of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier was perpetuated by Paul Hindemith in his Ludus Tonalis, Kaikhosru Sorabji in a number of his works including the Opus clavicembalisticum, and Dmitri Shostakovich in his Preludes and Fugues, opus 87 (which, like the Well-Tempered Clavier, contains a prelude and fugue in each key, although the order of Shostakovich's pieces follows the cycle of fifths, whereas Bach's progressed chromatically). Several Bachianas Brasileiras of Heitor Villa-Lobos feature a fugue as one of the

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movements. Ástor Piazzolla also wrote a number of fugues in his Nuevo tango style. György Ligeti wrote a fugue forhis "Requiem’s" (1966) second movement, the Kyrie/Christe, which consists of a 5-part fugue in which each part(S,M,A,T,B) is subsequently divided in four voices that make a canon. The melodic material in this fugue is totallychromatic, with melismatic (running) parts overlaid onto skipping intervals, and use of polyrhythm (multiplesimulataneous subdivisions of the measure), blurring everything both harmonically and rhythmically so as to createan aural aggregate, thus highlighting the theoretical/aesthetic question of the next section as to whether fugue is aform or a texture.Benjamin Britten composed a fugue for orchestra in his The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, consisting ofsubject entries by each instrument once. Leonard Bernstein wrote a "Cool Fugue" as part of his musical West SideStory. The central section of Ron Goodwin's theme for the film Where Eagles Dare is a short fugue. StephenSchwartz wrote a song from his 1974 Broadway hit The Magic Show called "The Goldfarb Variations" which usesfugue-like vocal counterpoint. Jazz musician Alec Templeton even wrote a fugue (recorded subsequently by BennyGoodman): "Bach Goes to Town." Canadian pianist Glenn Gould composed So You Want to Write a Fugue?, afull-scale fugue set to a text that cleverly explicates its own musical form.[56]

Is the fugue a musical form or texture?A widespread view of the fugue is that it is not a musical form (in the sense that, say, sonata form is) but rather atechnique of composition.[57] For instance, Donald Francis Tovey wrote that "Fugue is not so much a musical formas a musical texture," that can be introduced anywhere as a distinctive and recognizable technique, often to produceintensification in musical development.On the other hand, composers almost never write music in a purely cumulative fashion, and usually a work will havesome kind of overall formal organization—hence the rough outline given above, involving the exposition, thesequence of episodes, and the concluding coda. When scholars say that the fugue is not a musical form, what isusually meant is that there is no single formal outline into which all fugues reliably can be fitted.The Austrian musicologist Erwin Ratz argues that the formal organization of a fugue involves not only thearrangement of its theme and episodes, but also its harmonic structure. In particular, the exposition and coda tend toemphasize the tonic key, whereas the episodes usually explore more distant tonalities. However, it is to be noted thatwhile certain related keys are more commonly explored in fugal development, the overall structure of a fugue doesnot limit its harmonic structure as much as Ratz would have us believe. For example, a fugue may not even explorethe dominant, one of the most closely related keys to the tonic. Bach's Fugue in B♭ major from book one of the WellTempered Clavier explores the relative minor, the supertonic and the subdominant. This is unlike later forms such asthe sonata, which clearly prescribes which keys are explored (typically the tonic and dominant in an ABA form).Then, many modern fugues dispense with traditional tonal harmonic scaffolding altogether, and either use serial(pitch-oriented) rules, or (as the Kyrie/Christe in György Ligeti’s Requiem, Witold Lutosławski works), usepanchromatic or even denser harmonic spectra.Fugues are also not limited in the way the exposition is structured, the number of expositions in related keys, or thenumber of episodes (if any). So, the fugue may be considered a compositional practice rather than a compositionalform, similar to the invention. The fugue, like the invention and sinfonia, employs a basic melodic subject and spinsout additional melodic material from it to develop an entire piece.

Fugue 11

Perceptions and aestheticsFugue is the most complex of contrapuntal forms. According to one writer, "fugal technique significantly burdensthe shaping of musical ideas, and it was given only to the greatest geniuses, such as Bach and Beethoven, to breathelife into such an unwieldy form and make it the bearer of the highest thoughts."[58]

In presenting Bach's fugues as among the greatest of contrapuntal works, Peter Kivy points out that "counterpointitself, since time out of mind, has been associated in the thinking of musicians with the profound and the serious"[59]

and argues that "there seems to be some rational justification for their doing so."[60] Because of the way fugue isoften taught, the form can be seen as dry and filled with laborious technical exercises. The term "school fugue" isused for a very strict form of the fugue that was created to facilitate teaching.Others, such as Alfred Mann, argued that fugue writing, by focusing the compositional process actually improves ordisciplines the composer towards musical ideas. This is related to the idea that restrictions create freedom for thecomposer, by directing their efforts. He also points out that fugue writing has its roots in improvisation, and was,during the Renaissance, practiced as an improvisatory art. Writing in 1555, Nicola Vicentino, for example, suggeststhat

the composer, having completed the initial imitative entrances, take the passage which has served asaccompaniment to the theme and make it the basis for new imitative treatment, so that 'he will always havematerial with which to compose without having to stop and reflect'. This formulation of the basic rule for fugalimprovisation anticipates later sixteenth-century discussions which deal with the improvisational technique atthe keyboard more extensively.[61]

References[1] "Fugue, n." The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New

York: Oxford University Press, 2006). "Oxford Reference Online, subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY.html?subview=Main& entry=t23. e22155). . Retrieved 2007-03-16.

[2] "Fugal, adj." The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2006). "Oxford Reference Online, subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY.html?subview=Main& entry=t23. e22149). . Retrieved 2007-03-16.

[3] "Fugue", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, fourth edition, ed. Michael Kennedy (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,1996). ISBN 019280037X "Oxford Reference Online, subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY.html?subview=Main& entry=t76. e3627). . Retrieved 2007-03-16.

[4] Bruce Benward, Music in Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. Vol. 2 (Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1985), 45. ISBN 0697036332.[5] "Fugue [Fr. fugue; Ger. Fuge; Lat., It., Sp., fuga]." The Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), "credo

Reference" (http:/ / www. xreferplus. com/ entry. jsp?xrefid=4663031& secid=. 3. 2. ). . Retrieved 2008-05-06.[6] Paul Walker. "Fugue", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www. grovemusic. com/ )

(subscription access). for discussion of the changing use of the term throughout Western music history.[7] Leonard G. Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1980), 263.[8] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964), 7.[9] Paul Walker. "Fugue, §1: A classic fugue analysed", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ /

www. grovemusic. com/ ) (subscription access).[10] Paul Walker. "Fugue", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www. grovemusic. com/ )

(subscription access).[11] Paul Walker. "Fugue, §6: Late 18th century", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www.

grovemusic. com/ ) (subscription access).[12] Paul Walker. "Fugue, §8: 20th century", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www.

grovemusic. com/ ) (subscription access).[13] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964), 70.[14] G. M. Tucker and Andrew V. Jones, "Fugue", in The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham (Oxford and New York: Oxford

University Press, 2002). ISBN 0198662122 "Oxford Reference Online, subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ENTRY. html?subview=Main& entry=t114. e2723). . Retrieved 2007-03-16.

[15] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964),12.[16] R. O. Morris, Contrapuntal Technique in the Sixteenth Century (London: Oxford University Press, 1958), 47.[17] John W. Verrall, Fugue and Invention in Theory and Practice (Palo Alto: Pacific Books, 1966), 12.

Fugue 12

[18] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964), 59.[19] "Invertible Counterpoint" The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002)

"Oxford Reference Online, subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY. html?subview=Main& entry=t114.e3465). . Retrieved 2007-03-16.

[20] Drabkin, William. "Invertible Counterpoint", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www.grovemusic. com/ ) (subscription access).

[21] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964), 61.[22] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964), 71–72.[23] Paul Walker, "Fugue, §1: A Classic Fugue Analysed" "Grove Music Online" (http:/ / www. grovemusic. com/ shared/ views/ article.

html?section=music. 51678. 1). . Retrieved 2007-02-18.[24] John W. Verrall, Fugue and Invention in Theory and Practice (Palo Alto: Pacific Books, 1966), 33.[25] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964).[26] Paul Walker. "Counter-exposition", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 19 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www.

grovemusic. com/ ) (subscription access).[27] Johann Sebastian Bach, 'Fuge Nr. 2', Das Wohltemperierte Klavier I, ed. Ernst-Günter Heinemann (Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 1997).[28] John W. Verrall, Fugue and Invention in Theory and Practice (Pacific, California, 1966), 33.[29] See Laurence Dreyfus, "Figments of the Organicist Imagination", in his Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Cambridge, Mass., and London:

Harvard University Press, 1996), 178.[30] André Gédalge, Treatise on Fugue, trans. A. Levin (Mattapan: Gamut Music Company, 1964), 108.[31] Paul Walker. "Stretto (i)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 16 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www. grovemusic. com/ )

(subscription access).[32] John W. Verrall, Fugue and Invention in Theory and Practice (Palo Alto: Pacific Books, 1966), 77.[33] Paul Walker. "Stretto (i)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 29 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www. grovemusic. com/ )

(subscription access).[34] Paul Walker. "Double Fugue", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 29 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www. grovemusic.

com/ ) (subscription access).[35] "double fugue" The Oxford Companion to Music, Ed. Alison Latham, Oxford University Press, 2002, "Oxford Reference Online,

subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY. html?subview=Main& entry=t114. e2059). . Retrieved 2007-03-29.[36] "Double Fugue", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, fourth edition, ed. Michael Kennedy (Oxford and New York: Oxford University

Press, 1996) "Oxford Reference Online, subscription access" (http:/ / www. oxfordreference. com/ views/ ENTRY. html?subview=Main&entry=t76. e2780). . Retrieved 2007-03-29.

[37] Paul Walker. "Counter-fugue", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 31 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www. grovemusic.com/ ) (subscription access).

[38] Johann Sebastian Bach (1992). Alfred Dörffel. ed. The Art of Fugue & A Musical Offering (http:/ / books. google. com/books?id=6JY6sH5E94oC& pg=PA56). Courier Dover. p. 56. ISBN 9780486270067. .

[39] Paul Walker. "Permutation Fugue", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 31 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http:/ / www.grovemusic. com/ ) (subscription access).

[40] Paul Walker, The Origin of Permutation Fugue (New York: Broude Brothers Limited, 1992), 56.[41] Paul Mark Walker, Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 7.[42] Paul Mark Walker, Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 9-10.[43] Alfred Mann, The Study of Fugue (London: Oxford University Press, 1960), 9[44] Leeman L. Perkins, Music in the Age of the Renaissance (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999), 880–81.[45] Paul Mark Walker, Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 165.[46] David Schulenberg, Music of the Baroque (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 243.[47] Paul Mark Walker, Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 316.[48] Paul Mark Walker, Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 317.[49] Alfred Mann, The Study of Fugue (London: Oxford University Press, 1960), 53.[50] Paul Mark Walker, Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 2.[51] William L. Graves, Jr., Twentieth Century Fugue (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1962), 64.[52] Leonard G. Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1980), 263.[53] Leonard G. Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1980), 266.[54] William L. Graves, Jr., Twentieth Century Fugue (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1962), 65.[55] William L. Graves, Jr., Twentieth Century Fugue (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1962), 67.[56] Bazzana, Kevin (2004). Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195174402.

OCLC 54687539.[57] Donald Francis Tovey, Essays in Music Analysis Volume I: Symphonies (London: Oxford University Press, 1962), 17.[58] Erwin Ratz, Einführung in die Musikalische Formenlehre: Über Formprinzipien in den Inventionen J. S. Bachs und ihre Bedeutung für die

Kompositionstechnik Beethovens ["Introduction to Musical Form: On the Principles of Form in J. S. Bach's Inventions and their Import for Beethoven's Compositional Technique"], first edition with supplementary volume. Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht,

Fugue 13

Wissenschaft und Kunst, 1951), 259.[59] Peter Kivy, Music Alone: Philosophical Reflections on the Purely Musical Experience (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), 206. ISBN

0-8014-2331-7.[60] Peter Kivy, Music Alone: Philosophical Reflections on the Purely Musical Experience (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), 210. ISBN

0-8014-2331-7.[61] Alfred Mann, The Study of Fugue (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1965): 16.

Further reading• Horsley, Imogene. 1966. Fugue: History and Practice. New York: Free Press; London: Collier-Macmillan.

External links• Downloadable PDFs (http:/ / www. mutopiaproject. org/ cgibin/ make-table. cgi?collection=bachwtk&

preview=1) of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on Mutopia• Analysis of the Well-Tempered Clavier (http:/ / www2. nau. edu/ tas3/ wtc. html) (requires Shockwave (http:/ /

www. adobe. com/ shockwave/ download/ ))• Theory on fugues (http:/ / www. kunstderfuge. com/ theory. htm)• Fugues and Fugue Sets (http:/ / www. hannotte. net/ Fugues. htm)

Article Sources and Contributors 14

Article Sources and ContributorsFugue  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=454113949  Contributors: 63.86.107.xxx, A. Parrot, A4, ARog, AlkanSite, Alton, Amber388, Andre Engels, Antandrus, Antimatter33,Antiquary, Apoc2400, Apus, Arthena, Babybaby00, Barak Sh, Bemoeial, Blaxthos, BlueAngel06, Bmdavll, Bob Burkhardt, Bonadea, Brian Hopkins, Brighterorange, Burntsauce, Béka,Camaysar, Camembert, Camw, CardinalDan, Cc21002, Cdg1072, CharlieRCD, Cholmes75, Chris the speller, Chris1072, Cielomobile, Ck lostsword, ColdShine, Conversion script,Coolioviolineditor, Cor anglais 16, Cremepuff222, Csanderson684, Cut2, DannyDaWriter, Datahaki, Davichito, David Hoeffer, David Šenek, DavidRF, Dbenbenn, Deflective, DerHexer, DerekRoss, Derekwfranklin, Dina, Dolphind88, Doughouse, Drhoehl, Drilnoth, Dto, Eijkhout, Ericd, Evil saltine, Fanghong, Fish and karate, Frederick Dennis, Fredrik, Fugueman, Furrykef,Gbassman5, Gfoley4, GirasoleDE, Glenn Magus Harvey, Gogo Dodo, Graham87, Gryffindor, Gunark, Hadal, Hairy Dude, Hamiltondaniel, Helge Skjeveland, Helohe, HenryLi, Heron, Hi237,Hjijch, Hyacinth, Ihcoyc, Impy4ever, J04n, JSBach, Jashiin, Jason Fruit, Jerome Kohl, Jhuang, Jjshapiro, JoanneB, Jordanotto, Joroboro, Jubileeclipman, Julesd, Karen Johnson, Korg,KrishnaPG, Kwamikagami, La Pianista, Lament, LeonardoRob0t, LilHelpa, Lindblum, LokiClock, Looxix, LouI, Lunasspectos29, Mahmudmasri, Major Bloodnok, Makemi, Malafaya,Mandarax, ManningBartlett, Masterofpsi, Matt.kaner, Mav, Melesse, Melos Antropon, Merphant, Mgway, Mindspillage, Missmarple, Mostafa.Hassan, Muso Girl, Myleslong, NawlinWiki,Ojigiri, OlEnglish, Opus33, Pavel Vozenilek, Pfly, Philip Trueman, Philippe, Positron222, Qfat alex, R. fiend, RadRafe, Raeffray, RainmanCT, Redheylin, Rigadoun, Rigaudon, Rjwilmsi,Rmhermen, Ronaldomundo, Ronja, Runewiki777, Sbove, Schissel, Sesu Prime, ShakingSpirit, ShelfSkewed, Shoeofdeath, Simon12, Sketchee, SlimVirgin, Sluzzelin, Snow steed, Snoyes,Solipsist, Sophie, Starvinsky, SteinbDJ, Steve Bob, Stirling Newberry, StradivariusTV, Stumps, Subdolous, Svick, Sw258, Tabletop, Taeshadow, Tcncv, Toccata quarta, Tompw, Traal,Tubedogg, Ustadny, Versus22, Violncello, Vladmirfish, Walter Humala, Wars, Wax69, WikiParker, William Avery, Woohookitty, Ymatsui4, Yuan Lin, Zedla, Zeelack, Zoicon5, 345 anonymousedits

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