Paul, to answer your questions:
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1) Must the answer(s) follow the exact relative tones in another key? I've been looking at Bach's #2 Cm Fuge (From Book1) and I notice that one of the tones is changed in the first answer. This fits the harmony of the counter subject, but I'm wondering if there are some basic guidelines to follow. The answer is exact in every other way, in the Dominant, except for that one tone.
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See previous posts.
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2) Following on from question #1 - I would assume that a variant of the answer is allowed near the beginning of the exposition (as long as it obviously derives from the subject, follows the same notes, adds/subtracts passing tones etc...)
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I would avoid variants of any kind in the exposition. I checked my sources and I can find no example of this. While I can't find a written rule that says "thou shalt not...", the absence of any examples sets a precedent at least. Note that a tonal answer does not constitute a variant. Save your variants for later.
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2½) I notice the only two choices in "answers" are "tonal" and "real" whereas a tonal would use the relative pitches but keep them in the same key. For example. Subject C,B,C,E,G Answer G,F(instead of F#),G,B,D. Is there any more licence than this? For instance, the answer to the above subject pitch tones (following the same rhythm) being - D,C,D,F#,A (key of G, but not stating the tonic chord of this key in the answer)
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The example you give has the same diatonic intervals as the original, and is perfectly acceptable outside the exposition. In the exposition, since a tonal answer is acceptable there, it would seem that it's allowable. That said, I would not do what you're proposing inside the exposition. I'd save it for later to spice things up, but leave things solid at the begin.
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3) I've been working on #8 (G) fuge subject for some time now. Originally, the pattern of subject/answer entries was thus:
Subject(Tonic), Answer(Dominant), Subject (Dominant of Dominant), Answer (Dominant)
I assume that the Tonic-Dominant-Tonic-Dominant is a basic guideline only for statements and answers of the subject? [/b]
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What you've done in your setting of #8 is not acceptable according to my sources. The tonic/dominant/tonic/dominant pattern is standard. Occasionally, depending upon the harmonic/modal implications of a subject, a tonal answer in the sub-dominant is acceptable, but it's rare.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to begin a fugue solidly. I wrote a fugato (incomplete fugue as part of a larger movement) at the end of the Agnus Dei to my Missa Brevis - before I'd studied counterpoint - and the last answer in the fourth voice entered on the mediant; while this was really interesting and dramatic, I always wondered why the whole structure of the fugato seemed to suffer from there on. I know now that it was because I had not anchored the tonality sufficiently by adhering to the exposition rules. Believe me, once you get past the exposition, things open up wonderfully. Be patient. My experience has been that if you can't get past the exposition without breaking rules, you're going to have a world of grief making the rest of the fugue work; while things open up and get freer from there, it's also much easier to make a mistake. Do yourself a favour and set your fugue up properly.
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4) You state at the end of the exposition "from here it is not neccessary to Answer as was done strictly in the exposition".
Are there many more licences after the end of the exposition? If you notice I depended on alot of false statements after the exposition and especially at the end of my (edit: Gm) fuge. I assume the form is more relaxed after this?[/b]
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That's right. Partial statements, incomplete expositions (though most composers do one more complete exposition after the 1st episode, it's not necessary, and they don't follow the strict subject/answer format of the first exposition), what I call "bells-and-whistles" techniques, episodes just about as long as you like. Just set the fugue up properly, i.e. according to the rules, and you're home free. As I just said, if you can't get past the exposition without breaking rules, you're building a house of cards.
Hope that helps. Let me know if I need to clarify.