Canon and Fugue in G Major for Brass Trio

Hello everyone!

I recently finished composing a fugue for brass trio as a second part to the canon for brass trio that I posted some time ago. Since I do think that both pieces belong together and sound much better together, I post both pieces as one. The canon is a strict canon at the octave for the most time, but on measures 15, 21 and 22, the canon is broken on the top voice in order not to reach higher than the high C.

The fugue starts at 1:45. It starts in Gminor but finishes in Gmajor (in the same way the canon started). It has a theme (subject), two countersubjects and it contrasts in rythm and tonality (since it starts in Gmin) with the canon. The measures in which the subject (or the tonal answer) appears and their tonality are the following:

m.30-37: Gmin subject | Dmin answer | Gmin subject                  

m.42-45: Bbmaj subject | Fmaj answer

m.48-50: Dmaj subject

m.53-54: Emin subject

m.59-60: Gmaj subject

Any feedback, suggestion or comment is welcome. Thanks for listening and hope you like it! 

In measure 19 you have an F# - F natural cross relation between the trombone and the 2nd trumpet that I am not sure if you intended.  Same thing in measure 36 between the 1st and 2nd trumpet.  Overall these were nice!  About the fugue - your cadence to G major seems unprepared at the end.  Usually it is a common practice to introduce a tonic pedal towards the end of the piece and have the final entry be in the key that you're ending in which you do (since the trombone entry is in G major).  But it would have been even better if after measure 61 you continued that tonic G in the trombone to the end of the piece without dithering between other kinds of chords before the end (maybe besides the IV since a slight plagal cadence is sometimes used).  That part just seems overly complicated harmonically to me and results in the final chord sounding a bit too surprising imo.  Thanks for sharing!

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In measure 19 you have an F# - F natural cross relation between the trombone and the 2nd trumpet that I am not sure if you intended.  Same thing in measure 36 between the 1st and 2nd trumpet.

Yes, I saw them. Particularly in the canon there are many natural cross relationships and I realized only after composing it. I do not consciously try to use them, they just seemed to come out naturally when thinking melodically. But I liked how they sounded so I left them there 😅.

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About the fugue - your cadence to G major seems unprepared at the end.  Usually it is a common practice to introduce a tonic pedal towards the end of the piece and have the final entry be in the key that you're ending in which you do (since the trombone entry is in G major).  But it would have been even better if after measure 61 you continued that tonic G in the trombone to the end of the piece without dithering between other kinds of chords before the end (maybe besides the IV since a slight plagal cadence is sometimes used).  That part just seems overly complicated harmonically to me and results in the final chord sounding a bit too surprising imo.

Thanks for pointing that out! I also though the end was somehow off (I always have so much trouble with the endings...) so I changed it to a simpler straighforward one for the moment (I-IV-ii-V-I). However, I will analyze some fugues to see how they end those (did not know that the plagal cadence was sometimes used for the endings on fugues, since they are not so common for ending pieces in other forms).

Thank you for commenting and I am glad you enjoyed it! 🙂