I'm not sure exactly what previous post you are refferring to, but I remember reading something along the lines that as long as the countour remains the same, small differences in restatement are acceptable.
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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. [/b]
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I'm not sure which your referring to. The melody example was C,B,C,E,G. A "tonal" answer would be G,F,G,B,D yes? D,C,D,F#,A would be something of a modal answer I'm guessing, the fifth mode in G.
In any case, I haven't come across a fuge that has a tonal answer yet. I'm not all that familiar, but perhaps you know of one offhand.
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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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This makes alot of sense and I think that you're right. Thank you for responding as you did - however I must go through the process of self torture just to make sure that it can't be worked. I do appreciate the input though. If at the end of the writing I still feel unsatisfied, at the least I will have an idea as to why.
I'm curious if you would post (or send) your fugato at the end of your Agnus Dei, I'd like to hear it to know if I get the same feeling as you do - did you use the mediant key elsewhere in a restatement of the exposition or in episodes? I mean - does the mediant key feature as a regular part of the harmonic structure?
I don't want to impose. Up to you.
Anyway, thank you again for the lesson - it's very good - and for your thoughtful response.