The Fugue in a Nutshell...

Hey everyone,

I haven't really looked into the fugue, but after playing Toccata et Fuga for a while and listening to it as well as other fugual (is that a word?) works, I've started to become a little more intrigued on how to write a fugue.

From listening and just knowing very basic theory, could one say that a fugue, in a nutshell, is a short melody stated in one voice, then in a second voice as the 1st voice breaks into a new melody, then stated again in the 3rd voice while the 2nd voice breaks into a new melody and finally by a 4th voice while the 3rd voice breaks into a melody?

I know that it's stated in the tonic first, then a 5th up second (or so meting like that, I have it somewhere) etc., but with just very VERY basic knowledge like what I stated above, is that enough to write a decent fugue, or should i really crack open that fugue book I took home from school?

Mathieu

the way you describe a fugue is, more or less, as though I described a novel as "words on a page, with chapter headings or something".

do you want a superficial approach to something that generally takes years to master?

are you looking to be told "oh, fugue is whatever you want it to be"?

or do you actually want an answer you PROBABLY don't want to hear?

I can give you the third answer: fugue is something that requires mastery of counterpoint, as well as analytical study of the texture and formal possibilities of fugal writing.

I'm sure that with a good ear you could pull off some convincing imitations of a fugue, like many here have done. But to write something that will have any depth or demonstrate subtlety in the application of the various principles involved, will require a few years of pretty serious study.

But I'm sure someone will now chime in with "oh, you don't need to study anything, just read the Bach fugues, you can learn it all from there". So, in the end, my answer is "meh, whatever".

okay, that's the answer i wanted to hear :P

I do have a fugue book and a counterpoint book, and a whole summer to read them... so... i'll get crackin :D

Mathieu, I know from my counterpoint thread you know your counterpoint up to 3 voices 5 th species. It took me a year of working on a fugue on and off to get one down. I wrote a decent baroque fugue but I wouldn't offer that as my bestpiece as a long shot.

where Graham offered a crash course in fugue. In the Lessons thread under the archived lessons, you can glean quite a bit of info from my fuge lessons with SSC. These provide a primer.

As for textbooks, there are several. Kennan has good overview of how to write Inventions and Fugues - get the workbook too! A classic text and probably the most demanding and comprehensive (Qc, I think, knows this text) is Andre Gedalge's Treatise on Fugue. This work is for incredibly comprehensive exploration of the subject.

As for starting off - the hardest part is writing your own subject and answer. The other part is to have your subject and answer be stated in the dominant key. There are other key areas your subject and answer may appear - Kennan offers some info on this. For your episodes and strettos you need to know your imitative counterpoint well.

Finally, you need to understand harmony - common practice up to Mozart - will enable you to write a good academic fugue.

PS. You remind me I need to write another fugue.

Thanks CO!

Actually, the fugue book I have is the Kennan one, as well as a few books strictly on counterpoint.

i have you one thing to say :

yeah i've heard that, that's actually what prompted me to ask this in the first place :P