What's a Fugue?

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What's a Fugue?

We’ve heard lots of times about Bach’s fugues, but exactly what’s a Fugue? And why are they considered as complex compositions worth to be considered as masterworks that jus a prodigy as Bach, Mozart or Beethoven can compose? A Fugue can be considered as the highest point of contrapuntal development in tonal music.
We’ll focus starting from the barroque period, since the fugue on the middleage and renaissance included any kind of imitative counterpoint, including canons, which aren’t considered fugues anymore.
We can find great examples of fugues in Bach’s “musical offer”, “The well tempered clavier” and “The Art of Fugue”.
A Fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a musical theme, usually has three sections: an exposition, a development, and a final entry that contains the return of the subject in the fugue's tonic key.
• At the Exposition the fugue begins with the subject alone in the tonic key. Then a second voice enters and plays the subject but in another key (usually the dominant or subdominant), which is known as the answer.
• Then we’ll find the Episodes, which are always used to goa round different keys and are usually based on elements heard in the exposition. Each episode has the purpose of transitioning for the next entry of the subject in a new key.
• They must state the complete subject or answer at least once, and may also be heard in combination with the countersubjects from the exposition, new countersubjects, free counterpoint, or any of these in combination.
• The Stretto is a close succession of statements of the subject in the final section. In stretto, the subject is presented in one voice and
then imitated in one or more voices, with the imitation starting before the subject has finished. The subject is therefore superimposed upon itself contrapuntally.
• Any material that follows the final entry of the subject is considered to be the final coda and is normally cadential.
We’ll analize Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fugue no. 2 in C minor, from the Well-Tempered Clavier.
You’ll be able to identify each part of the fugue with the following colors:
• Blue for the subject and light blue for the subject’s parts.
• Red for the answer.
• Green for the first countersubject and yellow for the second countersubject
• Purple for the amalgam and pink for the episodes. Just lean back, enjoy... and learn!