Double fugue in G major

Double fugue in g major.

Free fugal form in the mid italian school. Inspired by looking at my two sons interact.

Subject 1: William (0,5 years old). Calm and majestic subject.

Subject 2: Jonas (3,5 years old). Energic and moving forward.

Please telle me what you think.

SimenN

Hi @Simen-N,

As always I enjoy your contrapuntal works! 

I just do not find which subject is William and which subject is Jonas since the indication is not clear. Is the opening Soprano subject William and second subject in alto Jonas? Also, is the new subject in b,28 a new one or not?

There's a parallel fifth from b.4 to 5 btw. Alto and Bass, C-G to D-A. b.7 beat 2 to 3 btw. S and T,  . There's parallel octave in b.34 beat 2 to 3 btw. S and A. But all of these are parallel for a semiquaver beat so it's not really a big deal!

I love b.65 when the music reaches F sharp minor, looks like William and Jonas are having a fight!!

Thanks for sharing!

Henry

Hi Simen, thank you for sharing in the first place. 

A minor detail regarding the score. Should this be here? 

I am a little confused too, as this seems to be written for strings but there's an organ playing. Is it because it sounds better than the available sounds for strings? There's also a lack of dynamics which would fit for the organ (correct me if I'm mistaken).

My head doesn't let me go through the score in detail, so based in what I listen and what I barely saw, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu motives are marked when they first make their appearance. I would say I like Williams' one more but it's not that I can complain about the other!

A solid piece, nonetheless.

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

as someone who writes fugues often, i find this piece particularly enjoyable. i have two comments:

1) i'm not exactly sure why the piece did not enter a minor mode until measure 61, since i believe there was a lot to explore with minor modes

2) this is a hill that i am willing to die on, but the violin 2 part (and maybe the viola part if you find it tasteful) at measure 70 should have d#

Perfect mastery of the style ! Bravissimo.

I like the very intelligent idea of personifying the two subjects. It is quite relevant, especially with this idea that childhood gives all these lines of strength to your composition.

I would have liked to know if you had been a little tempted to get out of the formal framework, as children know how to do so well to our great despair? (When they are older, your run may well become atonal! Haha)...

Congratulations again for the virtuoso sobriety of your writing in such a demanding genre.

And for the idea of staging your two children, above all!

This is a wonderful piece. I can hear one subject or the other and sometimes both together, which is what a double fugue should be. Thanks.

On 2/9/2023 at 4:51 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi @Simen-N,

As always I enjoy your contrapuntal works! 

I just do not find which subject is William and which subject is Jonas since the indication is not clear. Is the opening Soprano subject William and second subject in alto Jonas? Also, is the new subject in b,28 a new one or not?

There's a parallel fifth from b.4 to 5 btw. Alto and Bass, C-G to D-A. b.7 beat 2 to 3 btw. S and T,  . There's parallel octave in b.34 beat 2 to 3 btw. S and A. But all of these are parallel for a semiquaver beat so it's not really a big deal!

I love b.65 when the music reaches F sharp minor, looks like William and Jonas are having a fight!!

Thanks for sharing!

Henry

 

Thank you very much for listening and commenting. If you could not hear it, i sadly did not succeed. Williams subjejct is the first. The opoening in the alto is just free counterpoint. The entry i 28 is Jonas-subject.

Semiquaver beat parallels is done all over the baroque era, should be avoived, but it has something to do with the subject and the figures in this case. 🙂

Im glad you noticed fsharp minor section, that is where the drama between the brothers happen 🙂

On 2/9/2023 at 5:11 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

Hi Simen, thank you for sharing in the first place. 

A minor detail regarding the score. Should this be here? 

I am a little confused too, as this seems to be written for strings but there's an organ playing. Is it because it sounds better than the available sounds for strings? There's also a lack of dynamics which would fit for the organ (correct me if I'm mistaken).

My head doesn't let me go through the score in detail, so based in what I listen and what I barely saw, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu motives are marked when they first make their appearance. I would say I like Williams' one more but it's not that I can complain about the other!

A solid piece, nonetheless.

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

 

Thank you very much for listening and commenting. I had marked inn the names for the subject, but something happend when i editiet the score.  I use organ sounds because the sound better. Not much scorewritten dymanics in baroque, not in my music either. Up to the performer or conductor. The lines of the music talk for themself 🙂

16 hours ago, mossy84 said:

as someone who writes fugues often, i find this piece particularly enjoyable. i have two comments:

1) i'm not exactly sure why the piece did not enter a minor mode until measure 61, since i believe there was a lot to explore with minor modes

2) this is a hill that i am willing to die on, but the violin 2 part (and maybe the viola part if you find it tasteful) at measure 70 should have d#

 

Thank you very much. Minor late in the dobule fugue because the that is where the two brothers start to fight 😉  The first play happy by themself, then together before the fight brakes out. Then the become friends again.

D# it could have been yes, thanks for pointing out. 🙂

11 hours ago, Krisp said:

Perfect mastery of the style ! Bravissimo.

I like the very intelligent idea of personifying the two subjects. It is quite relevant, especially with this idea that childhood gives all these lines of strength to your composition.

I would have liked to know if you had been a little tempted to get out of the formal framework, as children know how to do so well to our great despair? (When they are older, your run may well become atonal! Haha)...

Congratulations again for the virtuoso sobriety of your writing in such a demanding genre.

And for the idea of staging your two children, above all!

 

 

Thank you very much, well im too grounded in tradition 😉 But it could have been fun. If i where to do so it would be some chromatic stuff. But i did not feel that it was sutible for childhood play 🙂

9 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

This is a wonderful piece. I can hear one subject or the other and sometimes both together, which is what a double fugue should be. Thanks.

 

Thank you very much! 🙂