Subject : The opening of a fugue is known as its exposition. 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 the basis of the main melody in a fugue?
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 ...
What is the main texture of a fugue?
A fugue is a special type of polyphonic texture . Fugues always begin with a tune that is played on a solo instrument/sung by a solo voice or produced by instruments/voices in unison. This tune is then played by all the other instruments or voices in turn, but not necessarily at the same pitch.
What is the basis of 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 the exposition in a fugue?
Fugue: Exposition. The initial section of a fugue, where each voice presents the subject in turn–either in its original or its answer form– is called the exposition. The subject is presented as many times as there are voices contained in the fugue.
What are the three parts of a fugue?
A fugue usually has three sections: an exposition, a development , and finally, a recapitulation that contains the return of the subject in the fugue’s tonic key, though not all fugues have a recapitulation.
What is a Bach fugue?
What is a fugue? The Oxford Dictionary’s definition of a fugue is: a polyphonic composition in which a short melodic theme, the subject, is introduced by one part or voice, and successively taken up by the others and developed by their interweaving .
What is the example of fugue?
In Mozart’s Fugue in G Minor, K 401, for piano four hands (1782), the two subjects are melodic inversions of each other. Two excellent examples of triple fugue (i.e., having three subjects) are Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, No. 4 , and his Fugue in E-flat Major for organ, BWV 552, called the St.
Is Row Row Row Your Boat a fugue?
(Folk music includes many examples of repeating canon, called round: “Frère Jacques” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” are familiar examples.) Fugue can be thought of as a later stage in the evolution of canon. ... The works of Bach stand at the very pinnacle of the history of the fugue.
How many melodies are in a fugue?
Most fugues are in three or four voices (“à 3” or “à 4”), but not all of these are used at any given moment; it is common for an episode to proceed in as few as two voices.
What is a fugue period?
The fugue became an important form or texture in the Baroque period , reaching its height in the work of J.S. Bach in the first half of the 18th century.
What is another word for fugue?
In this page you can discover 15 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for fugue, like: gigue , psychogenic fugue, passacaglia, toccata, scherzo, chaconne, sonata, sonata-form, cantabile, sarabande and adagio.
What is the counter subject in a fugue?
In a fugue, a countersubject is “the continuation of counterpoint in the voice that began with the subject” , occurring against the answer. It is not usually regarded as an essential feature of fugue, however.
How do you write a fugue?
- The exposition begins the fugue and a single voice plays the subject establishing the tonic key. ...
- The middle section consists of entries of subject and answer in keys other than the tonic separated by episodes. ...
- The final section begins where the subject or answer returns in the tonic key.
Is a fugue homophonic?
A fugue is another imitative polyphonic form . Fugues are less strict than canons: the different voices begin by imitating each other, but gradually diverge and become unique.
What is a fugue in music quizlet?
definition of a fugue. a composition in which the theme or subject is stated in a single voice and then developed into two or more voices .
