Fugue in Western Classical Music

This is the most mature technical & artistic manifestation of contrapuntal composition.

Here the sounding of two or more notes simultaneously is called harmony. Melody is linear & horizontally constructed whereas harmony is vertically constructed (as is visually evident in the staff notation.) Counterpoint is a compositional technique where two or more melodic lines complement one another but act independently.

The fugue is based on a "subject" which is stated alone at the beginning & reappears at various places & pitches during the piece. The "answer" which appears after the "subject" is the imitation of it at a fifth above or a fourth below. After the "answer", the subject re-enters providing a contrary melodic line. It is now called the "counter subject." Usually a fugue is constructed in three or four parts or "voices."

The structure of the fugue is constructed in three sections, exposition, middle section & final section somewhat like the exposition, development & recapitulation sections of the Sonata form of music.

Some of the iconic works of this genre are J.S.Bach's "The Art of Fugue", "The Well tempered Klavier" which contain 48 fugues (2 each in all major & minor keys), & Beethoven's "Grosse Fugue" (op.133) for string quartet.

Bibliography:

1. Apel & Daniel "Harvard Brief Dictionary of music."

2. Hindley "Larrouse Encyclopaedia of Music."

3. Karolyi "Introducing Music".

4. Kennedy "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music."

5. Wade-Matthews & Thompson "The Encyclopaedia of Music."