Leaderboard

I've updated the mp3 to showcase our very own @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu doing a spectacular job at bringing this to life

probably my most complicated work so far, and took me over a month.

Fugue in G minor for 4 trumpets Youtube Video Fugue_trumpet.pdf

Dear @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu , thank you so much for the reply, this is very useful for me as I have a composition deadline in 15 days for school. I will give a more detailed response on the weekend, and may get round to making some alterations. Thanks again, Louis

interestingly, this fugue was a remade version of a very old sketch (from around three years ago) that i had given up on because my skills were then obviously very lacking. i've just dug up the original version of this piece from which this fugue is based. another detail i think is worth pointing out about measure 4 is that i had intended this fugue to go to five voices right from the conception of the subject, and when rewriting the piece, i had evaluated that initial decision to be fundamentally correct. however, i also wanted to avoid redundant subject entries (as for this many voices, the piece would feel very slow with three sets of subject-answer in the same two keys). therefore, there are two choices for me to consider: either the part of the exposition after the entry of the fifth voice leading up to the cadence is in the tonic (or mediant), or the entry of the fourth voice is in a different key (preferably the subdominant) to strengthen the arrival of the fifth and final voice. you can see both of these mechanisms at play in bach's BWV 849 (c# minor) and BWV 562 (c minor, incomplete but the entire exposition is there). i recommend taking a look at the prelude as well, since it's considerably shorter than the fugue.

score of the fugue with colors

Your technique and inspiration are amazing. However, I find the prelude too "heavy" for two main reasons: 1) the texture is always dense (five voices) with chords in percussive blocks. 2) those chords have tone that are too close in the bottom. The fugue, although doesn't relieve the texture, is lighter because it runs in three voices. In my opinion, in this complex contrapuntal style, putting a voice to rest now and then helps to keep the interest. Well, we only have to take a look at the great masters.

I think the chords perfectly match with the lyrics. I praticularly love the ending to change the second inversion chord of F major to 1st inversion of A minor to represent "rued". At first it's something sweet but unstable, then turns to something bitter and unstable too, since that's only past event and not realistic for now to regret so much on it. That Ab major it really " a change of mood"! Clever use of the tritone major to the opening D minor! Although it's a short poem, some lyrics can be repeated with different music to allow time to build up to the climax more properly! I agree with @aMusicComposer that the climax is too abruptly prepared. The climax itself is great, but the build up can be longer. The mood change appears quite abrupt since each sentence is stated only once, thus the time to change mood is too short. I think more extended chord and suspension can be added to enhance the drama of the protagonist as well as the piece. The ending is fascinating, but it may seem gratuitous if it only appears once. I love that too! Just keep on composing these fantastic pieces!