Short Fugue for string quartet

Hi people,

This is my first post. I've been trying to write baroque fugues on and off for a little while. I'm a jazz guitarist first and foremost, but this is my hobby. I'd love to get it to the point where the music's good enough for real people to play, but I still struggle, as you'll hear

Anyway, I'd love to hear all criticism and any technical advice in whatever level of detail you've got time for.

http://stuff.jondelaney.com/listen/c_maj_fugue.mp3

Thanks,

Jon

Alright. The main question is how strictly are you following the parameters for fugue-writing.

That is to say, the subject in C major you have, the answer has the correct 4th jump at the start but you shouldn't transpose the entire answer along with it unless absolutely necessary (See: Bach's Prelude & fugue in C major for organ, BWV531 where the entire answer is transposed for contrapuntal reasons.)

Instead try to alter as little as possible. There's also an issue with your subject, it starts in the tonic and ends in either the 3rd or the 6th, and that's pretty much not very helpful. The reason is, it creates a feeling that the subject just gets lost in between the counterpoint and never stands out on its own as it doesn't return to a central tone like the dominant or tonic. In stricter context, try to keep your subjects in either of these forms:

Start in the tonic, end in dominant. Start in dominant, end in tonic. Start in tonic, end in tonic. Start in dominant, end in dominant.

There are exceptions, surely, but the main idea is that by returning to a central tone in the tonality you establish a point of separation between the counter-subject and the answer when the subject ends during the exposition.

Also, it's a good idea to plan ahead of time what are you going to use in terms of harmonic material. Normally, it's never a good idea to modulate during an exposition of the subject unless the subject is a modulating subject. For example, modulating towards the dominant after the initial exposition is a pretty traditional thing to do, but it should be done in the episode that comes after the initial exposition is done.

As it stands, also, your initial exposition is a little at odds, considering the third voice enters at the 5th, but without any proper setup, so the context of subject-answer is sorta gone by then.

Keep in mind that sometimes less is more, when trying to modulate or doing complex passages it's OK if you reduce your counterpoint to only two or three voices. Having all four all the time is not an easy thing to do and specially on strings it can result in a "salad of sound" which while tasty sounding, you can't really hear things clearly anymore.

I know it may be a little too "academic" to talk of setups and such, but it does help to organize your ideas to think ahead of time. A fugue requires planning, mostly because what comes after the initial exposition is half-free so long as it modulates to the dominant (in strict sense) and otherwise you can do whatever you want.

Keep this stuff in mind next time you give it a shot, don't be afraid to space out your exposition. You can have subject-answer, some episodes, and then the rest can come, and there's lots of possibilities on what the counter-subject is. You can reuse it, and make like Bach's Toccata & fugue in d (dorian, BWV 538) where the subject is just as important as the counter-subject (another such example is the one in E minor (BWV 548.)

About your use of counterpoint, there are some moments where perhaps it can be a little more fluid. For example, in the fourth measure, the fourth beat where you have D, C, C, though you resolve the dissonant Cs to D and B respectively, I think the dissonance there wasn't really necessary (or you could've used it later). Remember, dissonance and resolution are things that create certain effects, and are a valid musical element and as such you should pay attention if you really wanted that dissonance there early on or perhaps you could use it later somewhere else.

Anyways, I hope this helps. If there are any further questions, don't be afraid to ask.

Hey,

Thanks so much for your comments. I need as much help as I can get. I thought that it was common for subjects to finish on the 3 though. It happens all the time in the WTC. Maybe I've misunderstood you.

Thanks again very much for your help. I'll try to do another and post it soon. Meanwhile, anyone else with criticism, please chime in

Jon

Originally Posted by Jon Delaney

Thanks so much for your comments. I need as much help as I can get. I thought that it was common for subjects to finish on the 3 though. It happens all the time in the WTC. Maybe I've misunderstood you.

Weird, can you cite an example? Maybe sometimes it's hard to know where a subject ends and a tail begins, for example. There are tails which are also present in almost all expositions of a subject, so sometimes it's hard to distinguish them from the subject itself.

1 and 2 in books 1 and 2. I was taught that and read that it was the norm, but again, I'm usually more likely to be wrong than right

Originally Posted by Jon Delaney

1 and 2 in books 1 and 2. I was taught that and read that it was the norm, but again, I'm usually more likely to be wrong than right

Ok, in the first WTK book, fugue 1 ends in the dominant, second 8th note in second measure. How do I know that's the ending to the subject? Well, look at how he follows through with the 16th movement after the G, and later through all the fugue. The 16th passage is what I call a "tail", it's not really part of the subject, but it's there attached to it through all the expositions of the subject.

This is also supported by the G having a longer duration, and it's probable that in Bach's time that note would've been accentuated by using an ornament during performance to indicate it's importance in harmonic context.

Either way, it's not a good example since there are always all sorts of exceptions. Same for the second fugue of the WTK, though in this case the subject seems like it ends in the 3rd, look carefully at what follows the subject when it's in C minor. In the first exposition, in the third measure, it jumps a 6th from E flat to C before the answer comes in G.

Though the beat falls on E, the C that comes after should be considered the final note. Another example, in the exposition in measure 11 in E flat major, the subject also jumps in measure 13 to E flat right after "ending" in the 3rd. Sometimes, it's hard to see but these things do have an effect on what you hear as far as central tones are concerned, even if they fall in off-beat or are less accentuated.

The thing is, in the C minor example, having the 3rd at the end in a strong beat means that the cadences at the end of the subject flow better, since the 3rd is in the subject/answer (in downwards motion) and not in any of the other voices. But this only works if the three voices are there already, otherwise, notice how the tonic always comes after the ending 3rd. There are all sorts of tricks related to these things, but think of it as establishing anchors in a tonality before you set off to do stuff in it.

So, I hope that clears things up a little.

Hmmm. The head of the subject has evident potential, and reminds me very much of the first fugue from DWK/WTC book 2. After the answering phrase in the dominant has entered however, the piece begins to lose its way slightly. By the third entry, it's clear that you're either not entirely sure which key you are (or should be) in, or you cannot be bothered to write a modulatory passage back to C major.

I suggest that if you can, you steal subjects from books, and write lots of expositions in order to practise writing fugal openings. If you can write competent expositions, the rest of the fugue should be relatively straightforward.

In response to your discussion with SSC, I would concur that answers whose first tone is the tonic frequently enter with the third of the old key sounding below - in the examples I can call to mind, this is to render the old tonic predominant, so that the piece can be pivoted into the new key (eg. D minor Bk.2). In short, the interval of the third is commonly found at the start of an answer, but it is usually as part of a pivot chord, and sometimes (as SSC pointed out) after the subject tail has ended. As a result, the ear doesn't always hear the chord as a first inversion, since it's fulfilling multiple functions.