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The six-part fugue in the "Ricercar a 6" from The Musical Offering, in the hand of Johann Sebastian BachIn classical music, a fugue (/ f juː ɡ /, from Latin fuga, meaning "flight" or "escape" [1]) is a contrapuntal, polyphonic compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches ...
- What Is The Difference Between A Fugue and A Canon?
- Technical Terms
- Early History of The Fugue
- Fugues in The Classical and Romantic Periods
- Fugues Since The 20th Century
- Summary
The word counterpointrefers to the relationship between two or more musical lines which are played at the same time and have a shared harmonic reference point, but which are independent in their rhythm and melodic shape. Fugues and canons both use imitative counterpoint, and both forms were particularly popular during the Baroque period, but there ...
Voices
Fugues contain independent lines or parts, which we call voices. These might be sung or played by various instruments, or they might just be clearly distinct linear voices within a keyboard work. Fugues are written for two or more voices: more than one voice is required to achieve counterpoint and for one voice to imitate the other. Most of the fugues in Bach’s famous book The Well-Tempered Clavierare written for three or for voices, but some are for two or five voices.
Subject
The subject is the fugue’s main theme: a short, single-line melody in the tonic key of the piece. It is heard in full before we hear any imitation. It often lasts for just a few bars.
Answer
After the subject has been stated we hear it again, but this time it is transposed to a new key – usually the dominant, or occasionally the subdominant. If it has been transposed exactly, with exactly the same intervals between each note as the initial subject, it is referred to as a real answer. Sometimes, however, it may need to be altered slightly in order to fit the underlying harmony. In this case it is called a tonal answer.
The term fugue or fugawas initially used to describe canons, which first developed in the 13th Century. However, the art of the fugue as we now know it really developed in the 17th Century with composers like Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Girolamo Frescobaldi. Slightly later, George Frideric Handel used fugal writing in his oratorios. J.S. Bach was...
After the Baroque period ended fugues were no longer seen so frequently. Composers would, however, make occasional use of fugal writing, often as a section within a larger work. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied counterpoint extensively and wrote fugal sections in a number of his religious choral works. The final movements of a number of Joseph Haydn...
Fugal writing arguably became more widespread during the 20th Century, along with a greater appreciation of music and techniques from the Baroque era in general. Maurice Ravel’sLe Tombeau de Couperin, Béla Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, and Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms are all important 20th Century works which make use...
So, that brings us to the end of our look at fugues. We hope that it’s given you a better understanding of the fugue as a compositional technique, and that you’ve enjoyed listening to some incredible examples of fugues from across the history of Western classical music. As well as looking at pieces by the likes of Bach, Beethoven, Bernstein, and ev...
Fugue and Bach a musical composition in which one or two themes are repeated or imitated by successively entering voices and contrapuntally developed in a… See the full definition
The term fugue may also be used to describe a work or part of a work. In its mathematical intricacy, formality, symmetry, and variety, the fugue holds the interest of composers, performers, and listeners of Western art music in much the same way as the sonnet engages English-language poets and their readers. History of the fugue
- Mark Devoto
Perhaps the most famous fugal finale in all of classical music - a dazzling feat of compositional mastery in which no fewer than five themes are woven around each other. Simply, one of the most exciting and cathartic experiences in music. We named the 'Jupiter' one of the greatest symphonies of all time. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9.
Definition. A fugue is a complex musical form characterized by the systematic imitative counterpoint of a main theme, called the subject, introduced at the beginning and developed throughout the composition. This technique relies heavily on themes being repeated and varied through different voices or instruments, creating a rich and intricate ...
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A fugue is a contrapuntal composition for a number of separate parts or voices. Usually a composer chooses to describe or define a fugue they have composed according to the number of parts it is written for. e.g. “a fugue in 4 parts”, “a fugue in 3 voices”. Each part/voices enters in imitation of each other.
