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A fugue works like this: state one subject in voice after voice, then let it carry the whole piece.
What sets it apart is not what it uses but how little it uses:
An entire work grows from a single subject (plus its countersubject). No second subject, no contrasting "new material" — everything comes out of one idea.
The five components
| Component | Function |
|---|---|
| subject | the seed of the piece, usually short and distinctive (a striking interval or rhythmic figure) |
| answer | the subject's imitative entry in another voice, usually a fifth above (the dominant key) |
| countersubject | a second line sounding simultaneously with the answer, thereafter often paired with the subject |
| episode | where the subject is absent, fragments of it are pushed along by sequence, linking two entries |
| stretto | entries overlapping one another — the tightest passage, often driving to a climax |
Why is the answer usually a fifth above? Because the dominant is the closest key (see circle of fifths) — tonic-to-dominant establishes the key without needing a single accidental. The choice is not an arbitrary rule but a consequence of "the nearest key".
A fugue is a technique, not a form
This is the most frequent confusion:
| Explanation | |
|---|---|
| fugue (this site, T6) | a way of writing and a texture — how the subject enters, interweaves and develops |
| fugue form (T9) | the structural arrangement when that writing is organised across a whole piece |
So "is this a fugue" is not answered by counting sections but by asking whether it turns on imitative entries of a single subject (see fugue form). Many works contain a "fugal passage" — a tightly imitative stretch inside a development section, for instance — which is fugal writing without being a fugue form.
Why it is regarded as the summit of polyphonic writing
Three reasons, all verifiable:
One: economy. One idea carries minutes of music — the most demanding test in composition (see motive and subject).
Two: double constraint. Each line must work as a melody while all lines together must work as harmony (see counterpoint). More constraints, fewer solutions.
Three: capacity for development. The subject must stand on its own yet leave room — too complete and it cannot develop, too empty and it collapses. Judging that "leave room" is the hardest part of fugue writing to teach.
Diagram: the subject entering voice by voice
Listen: the fifth between entries
The central action of a fugue is "the subject imitated a fifth higher". Use interval to hear that fifth — the relation of tonic and dominant is the distance between the fugue's first two entries. For real four-voice weaving go to the instances: Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue (atepp-001928) is the most complete.
Common misconceptions
- "A fugue is a form." It is a way of writing and a texture. Whether a piece is a fugue depends on
- "A fugue must have four voices." Two to five all occur. The voice count follows the texture, not the
- "The order of entries is fixed." Starting from a middle voice and expanding outward is common, but many
- "The fugue is obsolete." It was still being written in the twentieth century (Shostakovich's complete set of
imitative entries of a single subject, not on how many sections it has (for the structural layer see fugue form).
definition.
works ignore it.
24 in Op.87), because it trains the ability to develop one idea to the end — useful in any era. :::
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- 赋格由主题、答题、对题、间插段、密接和应等部件构成，属对位学通则
- 答题通常在属调（五度）上进入；赋格是写法与织体，不是固定曲式，为通行乐理表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.