{"id":48084,"date":"2024-10-06T12:46:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-06T10:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f6f19268-b4f4-460a-968b-2d986df0e943"},"modified":"2024-10-06T13:07:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-06T11:07:14","slug":"the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"The fugue: a guide to one of classical music’s most dazzling effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Sunday, 06 October 2024 at 10:46 AM<\/p>

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A fugue is music written for several imitative parts which, entering at staggered stages, join together to create a harmonic whole.<\/strong><\/p>

Since the Middle Ages<\/a><\/strong>, and the first flowering of notated music, composers have striven beyond simple tune-plus-accompaniment.<\/p>

Best Medieval composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Sackbut to shawm: ten Medieval musical instruments<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
The result was counterpoint: a texture in which voices interweave like the strands in a cable, or pull against each other like the arc and cord of a fully tensed bow.<\/p>
The crowning achievement was Fugue. Think of the tune Fr\u00e8re Jacques<\/i>. If you assemble several voices, and get the singers to stagger their entries, this tune combines with itself to produce satisfying harmonies, yet all the while each voice remains melodic \u2013 no musical line is simply subservient to the melody<\/a><\/strong> on top. This device is called \u2018Canon\u2019.<\/p>
<\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How a fugue moves the game on from a canon<\/h2>Now imagine that, the First Voice having repeated the phrase \u2018Fr\u00e8re Jaques\u2019 and moved on to the higher \u2018dormez-vous?\u2019, the Second Voice comes in with the \u2018Fr\u00e8re Jacques\u2019 on a different note: say, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-circle-of-fifths\">fifth<\/a><\/strong> higher. In other words, Voice Two starts on the note that ends the phrase \u2018dormez-vous?\u2019. <\/p>The combination works well enough for a phrase or two, but then the problems begin. You might have to stretch or contract one of the lines to get a satisfactory fit. <\/p>And if you want to bring in another voice, singing \u2018Fr\u00e8re Jaques\u2019 at the original <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-pitch\">pitch<\/a><\/strong>, you might have to add a few extra notes \u2013 a little \u2018coda\u2019 \u2013 to bring the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-harmony-in-music\">harmony<\/a><\/strong> back to where we started. <\/p>Now you have something like the beginning of a fugue. The voices enter one by one, broadly imitating each other, but at alternating pitches: home-note\/fifth\/home-note\u2026 and so on, depending on the number of voices. <\/p>The ingenuity comes in the stretching, bending, contracting of \u2018Fr\u00e8re Jacques\u2019 (the fugal \u2018subject\u2019) and \u2018dormez-vous?\u2019 (the \u2018countersubject\u2019) to make them fit harmoniously and interestingly with each other in this new harmonic scheme. <\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Each voice is \u2018first amongst equals\u2019<\/h2>Imagine, then, a substantial piece in which the subject, countersubject, plus all the contracted, stretched and bent versions of both, plus the tail-pieces, are combined and recombined, in a regular, carefully contrasted formal scheme, to create a dynamic texture in which each voice is \u2018first amongst equals\u2019: each part formed from the same basic material, yet each making its own independent contribution to the musical argument. <\/p>This, in basic terms, is Fugue. For the composer it\u2019s perhaps the supreme intellectual challenge. Yet as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johann-sebastian-bach\">Bach<\/a><\/strong> above all showed, it can also express a staggering variety of moods and characters. For the listener it can be pure joy. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bach WTC I Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 Complete Live Performance - Thomas Schwan, piano\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IImakFsEHL8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Most famous fugues in classical music<\/h2>Some of classical music’s best known fugues include <\/p>Bach: <\/strong>The Well-Tempered Clavier<\/strong><\/em>. Bach’s two-book set consists of 48 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/prelude\">preludes<\/a><\/strong> and fugues, each set in a different key.\u00a0Not for nothing is Bach considered the ‘grand master of the fugue’.\u00a0<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/joseph-haydn\">Haydn<\/a>: Sun <\/em>Quartets<\/strong>. Three of Haydn’s 1772 set of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/string-quartet\">string quartets<\/a><\/strong> known as the Sun<\/em> Quartets have fugal finales.\u00a0<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/mozart\">Mozart<\/a>: Symphony No. 41 ‘Jupiter’<\/strong>. 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.\u00a0<\/p><ul><li>We named the ‘Jupiter’ one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/20-greatest-symphonies-all-time\">greatest symphonies of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>Beethoven: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-beethovens-symphony-no-9\">Symphony No. 9<\/a>.<\/strong> The finale of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/ludwig-van-beethoven\">Beethoven<\/a><\/strong>‘s last and perhaps greatest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/symphony\">symphony<\/a><\/strong> includes two double fugues.\u00a0<\/p><ul><li>Beethoven featured high in our list of the<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/50-greatest-composers-all-time\">greatest composers of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues. One of the great works of 20th-century piano music, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/dmitri-shostakovich\">Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s 24 Preludes and Fugues<\/em> follow the Bach model in presenting <\/strong>one prelude, followed by a fugue, in each of the 24 major and minor keys. They’re a wonderful mix of technical wizardry and emotional heft, while also drawing from the deep well of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/baroque-music-guide\">Baroque<\/a><\/strong> music.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/shostakovich-quotes\">‘When a man is in despair, it means he still believes in something’: 11 memorable Shostakovich quotes<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/five-best-shostakovich-conductors\">Five of the best Shostakovich conductors<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>Visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/musical-terms-dictionary\">musical terms dictionary<\/a><\/strong> to find out about other musical definitions you may not know.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Published: Sunday, 06 October 2024 at 10:46 AM A fugue is music written for several imitative parts which, entering at staggered stages, join together to create a harmonic whole. Since the Middle Ages, and the first flowering of notated music, composers have striven beyond simple tune-plus-accompaniment. Best Medieval composers Sackbut to shawm: ten Medieval […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":48085,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/10\/the-fugue-a-guide-to-one-of-classical-musics-most-dazzling-effects.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Sunday, 06 October 2024 at 10:46 AM A fugue is music written for several imitative parts which, entering at staggered stages, join together to create a harmonic whole. Since the Middle Ages, and the first flowering of notated music, composers have striven beyond simple tune-plus-accompaniment. Best Medieval composers Sackbut to shawm: ten Medieval…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/48084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}