Summary
Fugue Analysis: A Practical Guide offers a systematic approach to the analysis of fugal counterpoint, previously unavailable to scholars and students. It focuses on the tonal repertoire of the late-Baroque period, with suggestions on applicability to other repertoires. The author proposes an analytical framework based on simple mathematical concepts and score annotations as an alternative to the terminological inconsistencies encountered in historical documents of the eighteenth century. The book also provides a plethora of examples and analytical samples, drawn from the celebrated fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach. It walks students through different elements of fugal counterpoint and their mechanisms, offering a list of exercises and reflection activities at the end of each chapter.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- I. Foundations
- 1. Introduction
- Historical Context
- J. S. Bach and the Baroque Fugue
- Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772–801
- Well-Tempered Clavier I and II (WTC1 and WTC2), BWV 846–893
- Musical Offering (MO), BWV 1079
- The Art of Fugue (TAOF), BWV 1080
- Toccata and Fugue in F Major, BWV 540
- Also hat Gott die Welt Geliebt, BWV 68
- Applicability
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- 2. A Linear-Mathematical Analytical Approach
- Overview
- Three Purposes
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- II. Analytical Framework
- 3. Preliminary Dispositions
- Sources
- Editions
- Preparing the Score
- Marking the Score
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- 4. The Subject
- Inventio: The Subject as a Compositional Seed
- Structure
- Tonal Direction
- Metrical Considerations
- Amalgamation
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- 5. The Countersubject
- The Countersubject: What It Is and What It Is Not
- Invertible Counterpoint
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- 6. Fugal Devices
- Melodic Devices
- Subject Entries: Restatement and Imitation
- Transposition: Mutation and Modulation
- The “answer”
- False Entry
- Subject Statement in the Bass
- Other Subject Alterations
- Contrapuntal Devices
- Cadences: Structural Punctuations or Mere Gestures?
- Simultaneous Iteration
- Stretto
- Pedal
- Sequences
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- 7. Fugue Types
- General Nomenclature
- “Continuous” Fugues
- “real” and “tonal” Fugues
- “Double” Fugues
- Fuga obligatta and fuga libera
- Ricercare
- Permutation Fugues
- Fughetta and Fugato
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- 8. The Fugue’s Structure
- Exposition
- The Concept of “counter-exposition”
- Episode
- Coda or codetta
- Cadences
- Structural Organization
- Gesture of Presentation
- Section 1: Exposition 1 + Episode 1
- Gesture of Development/Departure
- Section 2: Exposition 2 + Episode 2
- Section n: Exposition n + Episode n (Multi-Sectional)
- Gesture of Return
- Section 3: Exposition 3 + Episode 3
- Section 3: Exposition 3 + Episode 3 + Coda
- Further Structural Considerations
- Section Sizes
- Toward an “Essential Fugal Closure” (EFC)
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- III. Analysis Examples
- 9. Legend of Score Annotations
- Overview
- Thematic Material
- Tonal Plan
- Formal Structure
- Other Markings
- Reflection Activities
- Exercises
- Example 1: WTC1 Fugue 1—C major (BWV 846b)
- Example 2: WTC1 Fugue 16—G minor (BWV 861b)
- Example 3: WTC1 Fugue 21—B-flat major (BWV 866b)
- Example 4: WTC2 Fugue 9—E major (BWV 878b)
- Example 5: WTC2 Fugue 11—F major (BWV 880b)
- Example 6: WTC2 Fugue 23—B major (BWV 892b)
- Example 7: MO Ricercar a 3—C minor (BWV 1079)
- Example 8: MO Ricercar a 6—C minor (BWV 1079)
- Example 9: TAOF Contrapunctus 4—D minor (BWV 1080)
- Example 10: TAOF Contrapunctus 7—D minor (BWV 1080)
- Example 11: Toccata and Fugue—F Major (BWV 540)
- Example 12: “Wer an ihn gläubet”—A minor/D minor (BWV 68)
- Closing Thoughts
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Preface
A Word to Students
The study of fugue is often dismissed as difficult by students, teachers, and music curriculum designers alike. In higher education, it is sometimes deferred to advanced studies as a stand-alone subject following an already toilsome study of counterpoint. At other times, it is not consistently approached at all during a music degree. Fugue is sometimes glossed over during studies in counterpoint, form analysis, and music history, but it can be overlooked and eventually fall through the cracks along a young student’s academic journey. In fact, students frequently graduate with a post-secondary degree in music without an in-depth understanding of this rich style of composition that stands as one of the epitomes of music writing within Western traditions.
Details
- Pages
- XXVIII, 242
- Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781433197147
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781433197154
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433197130
- DOI
- 10.3726/b19716
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2023 (July)
- Keywords
- Fugue Analysis A Practical Guide Fugue Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach fugal counterpoint Analysis of fugal counterpoint music analysis music theory Elements of fugal counterpoint and their mechanisms eighteenth-century counterpoint eighteenth-century form Johann Sebastian Bach Baroque music
- Published
- New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2023. XXVIII, 242 pp., 54 b/w ill.
