What makes a good fugue subject?
What makes a good fugue subject?
If the fugue is like the human body, the subject is like the heart, essential to the piece. Without a subject, you don’t have a fugue. Even if you go contrapuntal, all you would have without a subject is free counterpoint, with the only organization being via cadences or maybe a canon.
How is a fugue written?
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 completed the subject, the exposition is …
How long is a subject in a fugue?
The “subject” of a fugue is its main theme. It is generally short–one or two measures–but may be longer (3-4 measures).
How do you identify a subject and answer in a fugue?
In the Exposition the subject 1st appears in the tonic key. The 2nd voice plays the “answer” in dominant key (a 5th higher or a 4th lower) – this transposed line in the 2nd voice is called the answer. If it is an exact transposition of the subject then it is called a “real answer”.
How many voices are in a fugue?
In music, a fugue is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
What is a statement in a fugue?
Statements of the subject are often varied by transposition, with a corresponding temporary change of key. In some fugues, the subject is always present in one part or another; in most, statements of the subject are often separated by connective melodic passages called episodes.
What are the elements of a fugue?
In some fugues, the subject is always present in one part or another; in most, statements of the subject are often separated by connective melodic passages called episodes. The way the fugue unfolds and how long it lasts are determined by the composer’s wish to include a variety of possible treatments of the subject.
What is a subject in a fugue?
The fugue subject is the primary melodic idea and is stated by each voice in turn in the first exposition. The answer , called “response” in some texts, refers to the statement of subject in the key of the dominant by the second voice to enter in a fugue.
What is the main melody of a fugue called?
the subject
The Basic Structure of a Fugue A fugue exposition begins with the introduction of its central melody, the subject. The subject is the primary motif of the entire fugue and will be the template for other melodies.
What is a fugue structure?
fugue, in music, a compositional procedure characterized by the systematic imitation of a principal theme (called the subject) in simultaneously sounding melodic lines (counterpoint). The term fugue may also be used to describe a work or part of a work.
