Page 110 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 6.2
The organ presently in the choir loft at Bach’s Saint Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany.
It was from this loft that Bach played and conducted.
watch . . . two examples of modern fugues based on Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” online.
Figure 6.3
An example of a typical formal plan of a fugue
of these keyboards can be set to engage a different group (rank) of pipes, and each of these has its own color—making it easier for the listener to follow the individual lines of a polyphonic piece. For these reasons, the organ is the instrument par excellence for playing fugues.
Fugue
A fugue is a musical form that originated in the Baroque era, and in it polyphonic texture reigns supreme. The word fugue itself comes from the Latin fuga, meaning “flight.” Within a fugue, one voice alone presents a theme—here called the subject—and then “flies away,” as another voice enters with the same subject. Usually a fugue will have from three to five “voices.” These may be actual human voices (so- prano, alto, tenor, and bass of a choir) or they may simply be lines played by a group of instruments, or even by a solo instrument like the piano, guitar, or organ, which has the capacity to play several “voices” simultaneously. As the voices enter, they do not imitate or pursue each other exactly—this would produce a canon or a round such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” Rather, after each has its turn with the subject, it goes more or less its own way in free counterpoint. The opening section of a fugue, during which each voice presents the
subject successively, is called the exposition. A typical exposition of a fugue is suggested at the beginning of Figure 6.3.
Once all voices of the fugue have entered with the subject, there follows a section of free counterpoint called the episode. In an episode the subject is not heard in its entirety, only brief allusions to it. And whereas the subject is firmly in a key, an episode modulates from one key to another. To sum up: a fugue begins with an exposition, follows with an episode, and then continues by alternating subject statements, in one voice or another, with modulating episodes, right to the very end. Fortunately, fugues are easier to hear than to describe.
Organ Fugue in G minor (c. 1710)
Bach’s favorite instrument was the organ, and in his day he was known more as an organ virtuoso than as a composer—his fame as a composer came, ironi- cally, years after his death. Indeed, Bach composed his G minor organ fugue
Exposition
= subject
= counterpoint
Episode
Subject statement
Episode
S
A T B
etc.
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chapter six late baroque music: bach and handel
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