How does a fugue begin

The adjectival form is fugal. In the Middle Ages, the term was widely used to denote any works in canonic style; by the Renaissance, it had come to denote specifically imitative works. Since the seventeenth century, has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint. Most fugues open with a short main theme, the subject, which then sounds successively in each voice after the first voice is finished stating the subject, a second voice repeats the subject at a different pitch, and other voices repeat in the same way ; when each voice has entered, the exposition is complete.

In this sense, a fugue is a style of composition, rather than a fixed structure. Usually a composer chooses to describe or define a fugue they have composed according to the number of parts it is written for. We are going to look at the basic structure of a fugue through a worked example. The subject is played by the 1st voice in the tonic key.

The answer is a transposed version of the subject usually in the dominant key. Here is my fugue answer orange shaded notes : Fugue Example Answer The 3rd voice then enters playing the subject again. It is in the tonic key, but often an octave higher or lower than the 1st voice. This whole section of music is called The Exposition.

Contrasting keys play a vital role in the composition of a fugue. In the Exposition the subject 1st appears in the tonic key.

You can see from my fugue example that the answer orange notes has been changed and so it is a tonal answer. When all the voices have entered this signals the end of the Exposition.

A Countersubject often appears in the Exposition and also later in the fugue. A countersubject acts like an accompaniment to the Subject and Answer. Here is the countersubject highlighted yellow at the start of my fugue: Fugue Example Countersubject. An episode is a connecting passage of music in a fugue and is usually made up of a development of the music that has already been heard in the Exposition.

Here is the 1st episode of my fugue example which comes directly after the exposition: Fugue Example Episode I have used musical ideas from the exposition, including rhythms and short melodic phrases in my 1st espisode. After the Episode in a fugue there is usually another entry or entries of the Subject.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What makes a piece a fugue?

Ask Question. Asked 3 years, 9 months ago. Active 3 years, 9 months ago. Viewed times. Can anyone explain what a "fugue" is, in simple words? So can anyone please explain fugue and explain its presence in these two contexts? Improve this question. Tim k 14 14 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. In fact, many consider it to be the ultimate challenge for a composer also for performers.

For that reason although it is a very old form, dating back at least to the Baroque period, it remains a popular form for modern composers, for example.

Ludus Tonalis-by Paul Hindemith In between, there are twelve three-part fugues separated by eleven interludes, beginning in the tonality of the previous fugue and ending in the tonality of the next fugue.