Fugue for harpsichord (4 hands)

Some of you might remember, that I composed a Happy birthday-motet for my friend (Happy birthday-motet). I took out the melody, which I turned into a fugue for harpsichord (with four hands). Of course one can play the fugue with other instruments, such as guitars & bass, the organ and so on.

The voices cross at bar 12, but that can be played (rather) imperceptibly.

What do you think? Impressions, opinions, you are free to talk.

The mp3:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/sakvaka/Fugue.mp3

Well, overall I enjoyed the piece.

The theme itself isn't very strong imo; whatever, that's almost all opinion. But even as early as the first answer, the first voice goes to a (creating a fourth) when the melody and harmony suggest g. Was this a typo? Probably not, but you might just wanna try that to see if you like it...

Also, the theme. I may be wrong, but does the theme at the beginning only occur twice, making the rest of the entries (including the second subject/answer) varied substantially and thus false entries? Interesting angle, but I'd personally suggest using the original theme at least until the end of the exposition. You can obviously do whatever you want, but I feel this would bring the piece more coherency.

But once again, overall I really enjoyed the piece. I especially enjoyed from :39 to 2:12 (sounds like a lot of stuff I used to write), but the whole piece is good.

Good work and thanks for sharing.

Thank you for comments,
1) No, that wasn't a typo. It tries to act as an E major chord (dominant chord in the key of a minor). That was the best solution I could make up. Originally there was a g-sharp whole-note, but it sounded so dissonant that I ended up in this. I still prefer g-sharp instead of g, but that's just my opinion.
2) Those aren't false entries, but varied entries. I did try to make just a practice for 4-voice writing, not a strict fugue.

I am afraid that :39 to 1 min sounds too simple and expected. Should I make that more complicated?

where are the other three subjects? (you say in the title "fuga à 4 soggetti") I only saw the single subject.

technically, the subject requires a tonal answer, so your answer would need to be altered significantly to make it work.

you use an awful lot of 2nd inversion chords, which goes against tonal conventions for teh style of fugue you're writing.

measure 14 is overly chromatic for the cadence you give it at measure 15.

it would be better if you hid the junctures of your subject... with a few suspensions and some delayed cadences.

Originally Posted by sakvaka

Thank you for comments,
1) No, that wasn't a typo. It tries to act as an E major chord (dominant chord in the key of a minor). That was the best solution I could make up. Originally there was a g-sharp whole-note, but it sounded so dissonant that I ended up in this. I still prefer g-sharp instead of g, but that's just my opinion.

I also prefer g# over g, but prefer both over a (what you currently have). How does the a make it act like E major? I just think either a major or a minor third is better than a fourth over the first answer.

Originally Posted by sakvaka

2) Those aren't false entries, but varied entries. I did try to make just a practice for 4-voice writing, not a strict fugue.

I could be mistaken, but I think a varied entry in a fugue is a false entry (the definition of a false entry being a thematic entrance that only carries part of the original theme). Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by QcCowboy

where are the other three subjects? (you say in the title "fuga à 4 soggetti") I only saw the single subject.

Well, that is a typo (I thought that soggetto means voice, but I checked it's meaning...).

Originally Posted by Nik Mikas

I also prefer g# over g, but prefer both over a (what you currently have). How does the a make it act like E major? I just think either a major or a minor third is better than a fourth over the first answer.

I could be mistaken, but I think a varied entry in a fugue is a false entry (the definition of a false entry being a thematic entrance that only carries part of the original theme). Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The only reason I placed there an appoggiatura-a, was that I thought it would mild the effect of dissonance at that point. Of course, it is not obligary.

Those entries have so much in common with the subject that listener recognizes them as thematic entries, even though they are false entries.

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But thank you for feedback, I shall remember your words next time I get the idea of making a fugue!

I liked this very nice :9

Thank you