[15] After the statement of the subject, a second voice enters and states the subject with the subject transposed to another key (usually the dominant or subdominant), which is known as the answer. Later in life, the major impetus to fugal writing for Mozart was the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten in Vienna around 1782. Bach, the first middle entry occurs most often in the relative major or minor of the work's overall key, and is followed by an entry in the dominant of the relative major or minor when the fugue's subject requires a tonal answer. Dimitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues is the composer's homage to Bach's two volumes of The Well-Tempered Clavier. 14 in F♯ minor from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, or more famously, Bach's "St. Anne" Fugue in E♭ major, BWV 552, a triple fugue for organ. [37] Examples include Contrapunctus V through Contrapunctus VII, from Bach's The Art of Fugue.[38]. The earliest fugues, in both the symphonies and in the Baryton trios, exhibit the influence of Joseph Fux's treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), which Haydn studied carefully. Bach. Igor Stravinsky also incorporated fugues into his works, including the Symphony of Psalms and the Dumbarton Oaks concerto. Leopold admonished his son openly in 1777 that he not forget to make public demonstration of his abilities in "fugue, canon, and contrapunctus" (Konrad). [22] Each voice then responds with its own subject or answer, and further countersubjects or free counterpoint may be heard. A fugue begins with the exposition of its subject in one of the voices alone in the tonic key. In Ratz's words, "fugal technique significantly burdens the shaping of musical ideas, and it was given only to the greatest geniuses, such as Bach and Beethoven, to breathe life into such an unwieldy form and make it the bearer of the highest thoughts. False entries are often abbreviated to the head of the subject, and anticipate the "true" entry of the subject, heightening the impact of the subject proper. Simple rounds such as "Three Blind Mice" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" could be called fugues for children, but a true fugue can be long and extremely complex. Beethoven incorporated fugues in his sonatas, and reshaped the episode's purpose and compositional technique for later generations of composers. The exposition of the finale of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony begins with a fugal exposition. 50 No. [31], Only one entry of the subject must be heard in its completion in a stretto. Fugue, in music, a compositional procedure characterized by the systematic imitation of a principal theme (called the subject) in simultaneously sounding melodic lines (counterpoint). MD: The fugue reached its popular pinnacle during his time, but later Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Bartok, and many others composed from the rules, idioms, and turns of phrase he refined. A fugue, musically, is "a composition, or compositional technique, in which a theme (or themes) is extended and developed mainly by imitative counterpoint" (Grove Concise Dictionary of Music). 3, No. According to Charles Rosen (1971, p. 503) "With the finale of 110, Beethoven re-conceived the significance of the most traditional elements of fugue writing. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 illustrates the application of most of the characteristics described above. One example of permutation fugue can be seen in the eighth and final chorus of J.S. Techniques such as stretto, sequencing, and the use of subject incipits are frequently heard in the movement. A brief codetta is often heard connecting the various statements of the subject and answer. Fugue - Musical Definition. The various entries may or may not be separated by episodes. In music, a fugue (/fjuːɡ/) is a contrapuntal 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) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition. 346–47) regards as "certainly the finest and most characteristic example of Bartók's subtle style... probably the most timeless of all Bartók's works – a fugue that unfolds like a fan to a point of maximum intensity and then closes, returning to the mysterious atmosphere of the opening."[61]. A fugue in which the opening exposition takes place in stretto form is known as a close fugue or stretto fugue (see for example, the Gratias agimus tibi and Dona nobis pacem choruses from J.S. He also points out that fugal writing has its roots in improvisation, and was, during the Renaissance, practiced as an improvisatory art. 131 that several commentators regard as one of the composer's greatest achievements. The exposition usually concludes when all voices have given a statement of the subject or answer. Further entries of the subject follow this initial exposition, either immediately (as for example in Fugue No. Fugue - Fugue - Varieties of the fugue: Fugues have been composed for every medium and genre, sacred or secular, vocal or instrumental, solo or ensemble. This was a practice that Haydn repeated only once later in his quartet-writing career, with the finale of his String Quartet, Op. [13] Variants include fughetta (literally, "a small fugue") and fugato (a passage in fugal style within another work that is not a fugue).[6]. shape note or "Sacred Harp") music and West Gallery music. What made you want to look up fugue? Musical examples where the term 'Fugue' is used: The most fixed part of a fugue occurs at the beginning or exposition. He begs her not to let anybody see the fugue and manifests the hope to write five more and then present them to Baron van Swieten. [46] The most influential text was Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus Ad Parnassum ("Steps to Parnassus"), which appeared in 1725. See the full definition for fugue in the English Language Learners Dictionary, Nglish: Translation of fugue for Spanish Speakers, Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about fugue. ", G. M. Tucker and Andrew V. Jones, "Fugue", in, Paul Walker, "Fugue, §1: A Classic Fugue Analysed". 120. The composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525?–1594) wrote masses using modal counterpoint and imitation, and fugal writing became the basis for writing motets as well. Bach's Fugue in C major for Organ, BWV 547). fugue; Ger. When the answer is an exact copy of the subject to the new key, with identical intervals to the first statement, it is classified as a real answer; if the intervals are altered to maintain the key it is a tonal answer. 133, the Große Fuge ("Great Fugue"). [48] Fux's work was largely based on the practice of Palestrina's modal fugues. 1600-1750. • FUGUE (noun) The noun FUGUE has 3 senses:. If this new material is reused in later statements of the subject, it is called a countersubject; if this accompanying material is only heard once, it is simply referred to as free counterpoint. Bach's cantata, Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182. Accessed 25 Jan. 2021. [43] The fugue arose from the technique of "imitation", where the same musical material was repeated starting on a different note. In some fugues, the exposition will end with a redundant entry, or an extra presentation of the theme. “Fugue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fugue. However, it is the fugue that opens Beethoven's String Quartet in C♯ minor, Op. Fugues were most popular during the Baroque Period, ca. Fugues were incorporated into a variety of musical forms. [7], A simple fugue has only one subject, and does not utilize invertible counterpoint. 1 Music A contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts. The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied counterpoint with Padre Martini in Bologna. This formulation of the basic rule for fugal improvisation anticipates later sixteenth-century discussions which deal with the improvisational technique at the keyboard more extensively. [39] So for example, the fugue of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 is not purely a permutation fugue, as it does have episodes between permutation expositions. Bach and through the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795) whose Abhandlung von der Fuge ("Treatise on the fugue", 1753) was largely based on J.S. [30] The counter-exposition in a fugue is separated from the exposition by an episode and is in the same key as the original exposition. It is a type of counterpoint with a precisely defined structure. 5 features a "fugue-like"[59] passage early in the movement, though this is not actually an example of a fugue. [6][7][8] In this sense, a fugue is a style of composition, rather than a fixed structure. Countersubject definition, a theme in a fugue that occurs simultaneously with the second and often the subsequent themes of the main subject. A fugue begins with the exposition and is written according to certain predefined rules; in later portions the composer has more freedom, though a logical key structure is usually followed. [51] Nevertheless, both Haydn and Mozart had periods of their careers in which they in some sense "rediscovered" fugal writing and used it frequently in their work. London, Faber. [52] Mozart then set to writing fugues on his own, mimicking the Baroque style. In any of the entries within a fugue, the subject may be altered, by inversion, retrograde (a less common form where the entire subject is heard back-to-front) and diminution (the reduction of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor), augmentation (the increase of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor) or any combination of them. A few examples also exist within progressive rock, such as the central movement of "The Endless Enigma" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and "On Reflection" by Gentle Giant. Bach's Art of Fugue and the fugue from Beethoven's Opus 106 (the Hammerklavier sonata) have nothing to do with the academic fugue. Haydn's second fugal period occurred after he heard, and was greatly inspired by, the oratorios of Handel during his visits to London (1791–1793, 1794–1795). 101 and A♭ major Op. Yet this is music that’s made with a fine craft and detail of a Swiss clock maker. "[57] Philip Radcliffe (1965, p. 149) says "[a] bare description of its formal outline can give but little idea of the extraordinary profundity of this fugue ."[58]. [39] Each voice enters in succession with the subject, each entry alternating between tonic and dominant, and each voice, having stated the initial subject, continues by stating two or more themes (or countersubjects), which must be conceived in correct invertible counterpoint. [42] Originally, this was to aid improvisation, but by the 1550s, it was considered a technique of composition. Psychiatry A dissociative state, usually caused by trauma, marked by sudden travel or wandering away from home and an inability to … At the micro level of the individual lines, and there are dozens and dozens of them in this music...there’s an astonishing detail and finesse, but the overall macro effect is a huge overwhelming and singular experience. as in Kyrie Eleison of Mozart's Requiem in D minor or the fugue of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582), and (b) a fugue in which all subjects have their own expositions at some point, and they are not combined until later (see for example, the three-subject Fugue No. Bach also wrote smaller single fugues and put fugal sections or movements into many of his more general works. Amadeus Press. In the above example, this is the case: the subject finishes on the quarter note (or crotchet) B♭ of the third beat of the second bar which harmonizes the opening G of the answer. The English term fugue originated in the sixteenth century and is derived from the French word fugue or the Italian fuga. Many composers have written works of this kind. Some of the earliest examples of Haydn's use of counterpoint, however, are in three symphonies (No. Meaning of fugue. 102 No. Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor (1853) contains a powerful fugue, demanding incisive virtuosity from its player: Richard Wagner included several fugues in his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. [15], The excerpt below, bars 7–12 of J.S. There is usually very little non-structural/thematic material. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Giuseppe Verdi included a whimsical example at the end of his opera Falstaff and his setting of the Requiem Mass contained two (originally three) choral fugues. (ed.). It is uncommon for the subject to enter alone in a single voice in the middle entries as in the exposition; rather, it is usually heard with at least one of the countersubjects and/or other free contrapuntal accompaniments. The exposition ends with a chorale, the melody of which is then used as a second fugal exposition at the beginning of the development. 2. 6 and 7 of Bach's 'Art of Fugue'—and then the whole fugue is called 'a fugue by inversion.' Under the employment of Archbishop Colloredo, and the musical influence of his predecessors and colleagues such as Johann Ernst Eberlin, Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, Michael Haydn, and his own father, Leopold Mozart at the Salzburg Cathedral, the young Mozart composed ambitious fugues and contrapuntal passages in Catholic choral works such as Mass in C minor, K. 139 "Waisenhaus" (1768), Mass in C major, K. 66 "Dominicus" (1769), Mass in C major, K. 167 "in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis" (1773), Mass in C major, K. 262 "Missa longa" (1775), Mass in C major, K. 337 "Solemnis" (1780), various litanies, and vespers. The Henry Purcell's theme is triumphantly cited at the end making it a choral fugue. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Jakob Froberger and Dieterich Buxtehude all wrote fugues,[45] and George Frideric Handel included them in many of his oratorios. A fugue is a piece of music that uses interwoven melodies based on a single musical idea. In the fugues of earlier composers (notably, Buxtehude and Pachelbel), middle entries in keys other than the tonic and dominant tend to be the exception, and non-modulation the norm. "[55], Fugal passages are also found in the Missa Solemnis and all movements of the Ninth Symphony, except the third. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Do you know these earlier meanings of words? They must state the subject or answer at least once in its entirety, and may also be heard in combination with the countersubject(s) from the exposition, new countersubjects, free counterpoint, or any of these in combination. J.S. Further entries of the subject will occur throughout the fugue, repeating the accompanying material at the same time. [citation needed] Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler also included them in their respective symphonies. [1], 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. A fugue is a piece of music that begins with a simple tune which is then repeated by other voices or instrumental parts with small variations. [65], Benjamin Britten used a fugue in the final part of The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946). What does fugue mean? However, a stretto in which the subject/answer is heard in completion in all voices is known as stretto maestrale or grand stretto. Often the contrapuntal writing is not strict, and the setting less formal. Imitative counterpoint is when both the lines are using the same theme. For example, when the note "G" sounds in one voice above the note "C" in lower voice, the interval of a fifth is formed, which is considered consonant and entirely acceptable. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fugue.' [62] It employs a double fugue with two distinct subjects, the first beginning in C and the second in E♭. [33], A double fugue has two subjects that are often developed simultaneously. Here is the subject I have written for my worked example of a fugue: This whole section of music is called The Exposition. Here, Bach has altered the second countersubject to accommodate the change of mode. 88, No. 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. It was in the Baroque period that the writing of fugues became central to composition, in part as a demonstration of compositional expertise. Ligeti’s so-called 'micro-polyphony': the many voicedness of small intervals at small distances in time from one another is a kind of conjuring trick. Anything in literature, poetry, film, painting, etc., that resembles a fugue in structure or in its elaborate compl… A fugue is a piece of music written for a certain number of parts (voices). [42] It was not until the 16th century that fugal technique as it is understood today began to be seen in pieces, both instrumental and vocal. 1 in C major, BWV 846 of the Well-Tempered Clavier) or separated by episodes. The later codettas may be considerably longer, and often serve to (a) develop the material heard so far in the subject/answer and countersubject and possibly introduce ideas heard in the second countersubject or free counterpoint that follows (b) delay, and therefore heighten the impact of the reentry of the subject in another voice as well as modulating back to the tonic.[24]. The fugue is for keyboard and in three voices, with regular countersubjects. Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times. For example, a fugue may not even explore the dominant, one of the most closely related keys to the tonic. Bach composed his fugues for the organ; for the harpsichord or clavichord in the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier and in the toccatas, suites, and partitas; for unaccompanied chorus, in the motets; for chorus with organ … crotchets for quavers, minims for crotchets, etc., and is thus the opposite to Diminution. During the Classical era, the fugue was no longer a central or even fully natural mode of musical composition. Middle entries tend to occur at pitches other than the initial. Have a look/listen to my fugue exposition: [34][35] There are two kinds of double (triple) fugue: (a) a fugue in which the second (third) subject is (are) presented simultaneously with the subject in the exposition (e.g. Then, many modern fugues dispense with traditional tonal harmonic scaffolding altogether, and either use serial (pitch-oriented) rules, or (as the Kyrie/Christe in György Ligeti's Requiem, Witold Lutosławski works), use panchromatic, or even denser, harmonic spectra. Bach's Mass in B Minor). 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? Definition of fugue. A fugue is a piece of music that begins with a simple tune which is then repeated by other voices or instrumental parts with small variations. The last movement of his Cello Sonata, Op. Fugue definition, a polyphonic composition based upon one, two, or more themes, which are enunciated by several voices or parts in turn, subjected to contrapuntal treatment, and gradually built up into a complex form having somewhat distinct divisions or stages of development and a marked climax at the end. Floros, C. (1997, p. 135) Gustav Mahler: The Symphonies, trans. Learn a new word every day. Bach's most famous fugues are those for the harpsichord in The Well-Tempered Clavier, which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue. fugue (fyo͞og) [Ital.,=flight], in music, a form of composition in which the basic principle is imitative counterpoint counterpoint, in music, the art of combining melodies each of which is independent though forming part of a homogeneous texture.
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