Table of Contents
Who is considered the greatest fugue composer?
Haydn. Joseph Haydn was the leader of fugal composition and technique in the Classical era. Haydn’s most famous fugues can be found in his “Sun” Quartets (op.
What is the most important quality of fugue?
The most significant, characteristic new form of Baroque music. Rooted in systematic use of imitative polyphony. Fugue = polyphonic composition built on a single principal theme (the subject).
What is Bach’s best fugue?
Here are some of my favorite Bach fugues:
- Fugue in D Major, BWV 532.
- Fugue in b minor, BWV 544.
- “St. Anne” Fugue in Eb Major, BWV 552.
- “Wedge” Fugue in e minor, BWV 548.
- Contrapunctus 11 from the Art of Fugue.
- and then Contrapunctus 14.
What is the good example of fugue?
In Mozart’s Fugue in G Minor, K 401, for piano four hands (1782), the two subjects are melodic inversions of each other. Two excellent examples of triple fugue (i.e., having three subjects) are Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, No. 4, and his Fugue in E-flat Major for organ, BWV 552, called the St.
How do you write a fugue?
How To Write A Fugue
- The exposition begins the fugue and a single voice plays the subject establishing the tonic key.
- The middle section consists of entries of subject and answer in keys other than the tonic separated by episodes.
- The final section begins where the subject or answer returns in the tonic key.
Why is fugue so important?
Fugal writing is a very complex form of counterpoint. In the Baroque it could also be considered a genre, as many pieces were composed as stand-alone fugues. The most important thing to remember is the role of the fugue subject as the main melodic idea that is imitated throughout the piece.
What is considered Bach’s greatest work?
Here is some of his best music.
- Concerto for Two Violins.
- The Well-Tempered Clavier.
- “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” from Cantata BWV 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben.
- Six Suites for Solo Cello.
- Brandenburg Concertos.
- Mass in B minor.
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
- Christmas Oratorio.
How would you describe a fugue?
fugue, in music, a compositional procedure characterized by the systematic imitation of a principal theme (called the subject) in simultaneously sounding melodic lines (counterpoint). The term fugue may also be used to describe a work or part of a work.
What makes a good fugue subject?
If the fugue is like the human body, the subject is like the heart, essential to the piece. Without a subject, you don’t have a fugue. Even if you go contrapuntal, all you would have without a subject is free counterpoint, with the only organization being via cadences or maybe a canon.
Which composer wrote the best fugues for keyboard?
So many choices. The three composers that, to my mind, wrote some of the finest fugues for keyboard (my instrument of choice) are JS Bach, miles ahead of anyone else, then Beethoven, and Dmitri Shostakovich, with his 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87, written as an homage to Bach. It’s really hard to pick a single Bach fugue as his greatest.
How many great fugues did Pachelbel write?
These are not the ten greatest that are not by Bach, but simply ten great fugues. Certainly, many worthy examples have been left off, so you are invited to mention your choices. Yes, as a matter of fact, Pachelbel wrote more than one Canon in D Major.
What are some of the greatest fugues of all time?
The fugue from the Toccata and fugue in F major, BWV 540. This fugue is a double fugue, with the second subject entering a little less than halfway. I consider it to be one of the greatest because of its combination of contrapuntal power and aesthetic beauty, similar to Contrapunctus IV from The Art of Fugue.
What did Beethoven study Bach’s fugues?
It is a double fugue, with four voices developing two subjects simultaneously. Beethoven, like Mozart, Haydn, et al., had a number of Bach’s fugal works to draw from, but painfully few. He studied the fugue primarily from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.