Double Fugue in E-flat major

So, after one long, sleepless night of nonstop composing, springtime inspiration has blossomed into what I would consider to be potentially one of my best pieces to date. The 2nd subject and its exposition actually were originally part of a totally different, unfinished fugue in F minor, and as such its thematic relevance isn't as prominent as that of the main subject, though significant in certain passages nontheless.

Enjoy!

YouTube video link: 

Nice work, which I forgot to listen to.
For this type of work I like the harpsichord sound better.
The initial theme or subject is quite “catchy”. I think the second theme comes in at measure 32?
I was pleasantly surprised by the “cadenza arpeggiata”, I think it also has a role of a more rested section. And it sounds chromatic.

When talking about Double Fugue, I understand that there are two subjects. I suppose you can work by exposing them separately, or sequentially.
Is it also possible to then overlay one on top of the other?

Best regards.

On 4/20/2025 at 10:03 AM, Luis Hernández said:

For this type of work I like the harpsichord sound better.

Agreed, my piano soundbanks are way too mellow for this fugue's overall character.

On 4/20/2025 at 10:03 AM, Luis Hernández said:

The initial theme or subject is quite “catchy”. I think the second theme comes in at measure 32?

The first subject, as pointed out by one YouTube commenter, has the exact same initial five notes as Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concert's 3rd movement. The key isn't that far off too, a mere semitone above the original in D major. It's both fantastic and mesmerizing how an entirely different piece could come out of such a similar foundation: such is the mastery over melody and harmony Bach simultaneously displayed in his fugal subjects, that we all should strive from learn from him.

As for the 2nd subject, it first apears in b. 32 as you correctly observed, and also in b. 84 in non-strict stretto with itself, kind of like a chain of false entries.

On 4/20/2025 at 10:03 AM, Luis Hernández said:

I was pleasantly surprised by the “cadenza arpeggiata”, I think it also has a role of a more rested section. And it sounds chromatic.

That was indeed the purpose of the whole cadenza: to provide a less polyphonically dense passage for the sake of letting the listener rest before the final reexposition. The chromaticism you noticed also inversely follow many of the previous modulations employed throughout the whole fugue up until that point.

On 4/20/2025 at 10:03 AM, Luis Hernández said:

When talking about Double Fugue, I understand that there are two subjects. I suppose you can work by exposing them separately, or sequentially.
Is it also possible to then overlay one on top of the other?

That would normally be the ideal development, but unfortunately the assymetries between both sequences resulted in unbearably clashing dissonances when trying to superpose both subjects on top of one another in invertible counterpoint. Trying to have them in stretto didn't have much better to offer, as it barely served as one, rather sounding like a sequentially yuxtaposed entry on account of how late the 2nd subject could enter in conjunction with the first one without an inexorable clash of minor 2nd intervals. As such, it appeared as though these subjects are way too independent from one another, to the point I couldn't manage to have them work with each other lest the counterpoint and harmonies became severely riddled with intolerable dissonances.

Nevertheless, it would have been a pretty nifty idea, had I been willing to modify all iterations of the first subject to account for it while progress on the piece was still underway. Unfortunately however, I am currently only editing this fugue for minor corrections, and a full revamp making either subject fit for stretto or invertible counterpoint with the other will have to wait at least as few years before I revisit this work in hopes of further expanding it.

Gracias por todo, Luis. 🙂