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The countersubject usually contrasts with the subject/answer phrase shape. In a fugue, a countersubject is "the continuation of counterpoint in the voice that began with the subject", occurring against the answer. [13] It is not usually regarded as an essential feature of fugue, however. [14] The typical fugue opening resembles the following: [13]
The six-part fugue in the "Ricercar a 6" from The Musical Offering, in the hand of Johann Sebastian BachIn classical music, a fugue (/ f juː ɡ /, from Latin fuga, meaning "flight" or "escape" [1]) is a contrapuntal, polyphonic compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches ...
The second part starts with the (modified) fugue subject in the violin; followed by the subject in the harpsichord and the countersubject in the violin. As in the first part, there is a reprise of both interludes followed by a statement of the fugue subject/countersubject in the bass line/harpsichord, but now truncated from four bars to three.
The more formal term countersubject applies to a secondary or subordinate melodic idea in a fugue. A countermelody differs from a harmony part sung by a backup singer in that whereas the harmony part typically lacks its own independent musical line, a countermelody is a distinct melodic line.
Beginning of Fugue. The fugue is in 6 8 and has 143 measures. It is made up mostly of eighth notes, quarter notes, dotted quarter notes, and sixteenth notes. It has a subject and a countersubject, although the countersubject does not always accompany the subject.
The subject of the fugue theme commences resolutely with detached crotchets for "Denn", sung initially by the tenor accompanied by the basso continuo. The following fugal entry is sung by the bass, with the tenor now taking up the countersubject derived partly on the continuo quaver figures at the very beginning of the fugue.
The Art of Fugue, or The Art of the Fugue (German: Die Kunst der Fuge), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, The Art of Fugue is the culmination of Bach's experimentation with monothematic instrumental works.
This usually involves the alternation of episodes with statements of the theme, similar to the development of a fugue. In minor- and major-mode inventions, the theme is typically restated in the relative major and the dominant, respectively. New key areas are reached through episodes, which usually move sequentially through the circle of fifths.