What is a Fugue? (Music Appreciation)

In this video, the musical form called a fugue is explained. Feel free to use this video for your own class. Copyright information is at the end of the video.

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[UnderstandingMusic]

0:01 Introduction
0:14 Fugal Elements in a Pop Song
0:31 Why Composers Use Forms like the Fugue
0:42 Master of the Fugue: Johann Sebastian Bach
0:55 Counterpoint
1:07 Polyphonic Texture
1:22 Subject (Main theme in a fugue)
1:54 Melodic Lines and Vocal Registers (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
2:33 Order that Melodic Lines Enter
2:40 Answer (Main theme of a fugue in a different key)
3:42 Exposition in a Fugue
3:53 Development Section in a Fugue
4:11 How Composers Present the Subject in New and Interesting Ways
4:38 Why it's called the "Little" Fugue in G Minor
5:00 Visualization of Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor
5:15 Answer in Alto Enters
5:32 Subject enters in Tenor
5:46 Answer enters in Bass (Pedal Keyboard Organist Plays with Feet)
5:59 Exposition Ends, Development Begins
8:13 Credits

[johannsebastianbach]

Couldn't have said it better myself

[winstonmisha]

Every bach piece feels like a riddle you have to solve. The more you listen to it the more things you discover, the more you see the structure.

[o.steinman]

This is stupidly awesome and complex, I seriously can't wrap my head around how someone could *improvise* one of these.

[andrewgjennings]

Some people spend their whole lives trying to teach - or understand - something you have managed to explain in 8 minutes and 29 seconds. Well done - and thank you!

[paleogrognard]

I'm about to say something dumb, but, like Forest Gump, I am not a smart man.

I don't get classical music. I didn't listen to Wagner in the womb; I wasn't raised on Rachmaninoff; Hayden was not my homeboy. But I am captivated in the last two or so years by this music! I don't know the lingo (except, they are not songs!) and lately, I've become acutely aware that I don't even know how to listen. I mean, I hear the music, but it's like I am only able to hear 70% of it. I CAN tell that there's more there than I am hearing, and it's frustrating to know that there is a whole level of understanding that I'm just not getting. It's like I can SEE the facade of the building. I know there's a wealth of architecture and design behind the obvious, but I have no idea what a door looks like, and no concept of how to begin to open it.

So your stuff is incredibly helpful. I still can't tell where subject begins and answer ends - but the visual stuff really helped me start to see patterns. I still can't listen to more lines than one or maybe two with any degree of competence, so it's very helpful to watch your videos and at least start to know how to articulate exactly what it is I know I can hear. It's almost like this music is a foreign language: I can hear the sounds and know they are rich with meaning, but comprehending them is just not possible. Your videos are like a primer in grammar.

Anyway, long story short, thanks for doing what you do. It's very helpful for people like me who are too dumb to really get what's going on, but not so dumb that they are oblivious to richer meaning available if only they could unlock it.

[robotwolf]

Great Video! Absolutely Top Drawer! That fugue was a forgotten melody from my childhood! And I love how Bach ends this fugue very perfunctorily as though he got bored. He was such a show-off!

[simon]

I have never heard this so clearly, accurately and engagingly explained. I wish I'd known you when I was 8 years old!! thanks and well done.

[andrewsilver]

Woah, I was looking for the simple definition rather than the structure.. But this video is gold

[lookalterno]

I can't tell one note from another, and your graphic representation is a BIG help for understanding what is all about. Thank!

[benjaminjoseph]

The detail and complexity of what is being described in music composition is amazing.

[cmedalie]

Short, concise and, thanks to the animation, easy to comprehend, this short video shows how voices are layered to create the architecture of this gorgeous art form. The Little Fugue in Gm is a perfect example to convey this.

[virginiawilliams]

I'm a new to Baroque music and kept coming across references to the fugue. Watching this wonderfully clear explanation and illustration of the art form has helped me enormously to understand. Thank you! (Now I must listen to more of Bach to develop a well-tempered ear!)

[sebastianzaczek]

1:43 "Of course, just playing a melody over and over would be rather boring [...]"

Well, welcome to the world of minimalism...

[ros]

Love the visual presentation, you can almost see the diffrent colored points stretching the harmony between them.

[bellowphone]

Very interesting and well explained. I've always loved the "Little Fugue."

[richarddeleon]

Dude, , , even though you were a little fast on the jaw, , I understood everything you said, , it opened a portal for me, , I'll keep going over this, to help me write the guitar fugue I always wanted to write for classical guitar, , bless you.

[spiralhappiness]

I am here because I'm reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan and one of the first chapters in the book is called One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue. After reading the meaning of the word fugue, understood that I need a visual explanation. This was quite complex but I appreciated how detailed and visually accessible the explanation was. Thank you!

[malcolmabram]

Feel free to share with your class. A guy who wants to share for non financial gain. Bless you indeed. Now that is what life is all about. PS. Very well and intelligently put together. Thank you.

[kamilee]

Thanks for explaining this, I was basically told a fugue was a round but more complicated (which I guess it kind of is in a sense) and this was a much more clear and detailed explanation.