Young Composers' Fugue Challenge

I have a fugue based on no. 6 in E-Minor in progress, but could somebody just check I am doing the right sort of thing at the moment. I have never before written a fugue or had any real training on how a fugue is supposed to work, so I would appreciate some help.

Sounds like you're doing it right. You're bringing in the voices at different intervals from the original. See if you can overlap that melody with itself. Try it upside down. It's hard to check to see what rules you might be breaking but i don't hear any parallel octaves or fifths off the bat. and much of your motion seems contrary, which is good. I'm no expert on counterpoint but I'd say keep on going - sounds good.

Hello, i was intrigued by this topic because I love fugues I just can't usually write them .

I composed a four-voice fugue for two oboes, English horn, and basson I'm pretty happy with using subject twelve (B minor). Only two thing bother me regarding this piece. One is that it turned out sounding a lot more modern than I orignally intended it to. I think the chromatics in the subject were too tempting for me. Two, I think I had a tendency to drift away from a true fugue form at times, but all in all, I hope it turned out sounding reasonably fugue-ish.

Comments and criticism welcome of course.

Venuur

This is my attempt for the fugue in B minor.
This is excuted by a 'string ensemble', but more combinations of instruments are possible.

Nice work, Bach88.

Glad to see the thread hasn't died completely over the past year. Hopefully we can attract more users to this fun little project again. I'll try my hand at another subject shortly.

Wow, what a great exercise. I am also glad to see that this older thread is not dead. Please let me know what you think of my attempt on the c minor theme. I wish the computer recording executed the ritardando on the final measure. Is the ending convincing enough?
By the way, I love the theme. It is very motivic, and I like the fact that it leads into the dominant chord as opposed to tonic. That leads better to new material.

-Mauricio

I know that this is an old thread and all, but I was hoping to get some feedback on my fugue. Anyone?
I am planning another this time with the e minor subject, but I would like to know how the c minor worked out first. Any feedback would be appreciated.
thanks

I know that this is an old thread and all, but I was hoping to get some feedback on my fugue. Anyone?
I am planning another this time with the e minor subject, but I would like to know how the c minor worked out first. Any feedback would be appreciated.
thanks

I think you did a great job with it. I can't really say much else, although I'm not terribly fond of the subject. I'm trying my hand right now at the C major one and it's tough. But whether I like the subject is neither here nor there--someone who is truly facile with counterpoint should be able to take practically anything and make a workable fugue out of it.

And you've certainly done that here.

I know that this is an old thread and all, but I was hoping to get some feedback on my fugue. Anyone?
I am planning another this time with the e minor subject, but I would like to know how the c minor worked out first. Any feedback would be appreciated.
thanks
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This is Great! I appreciate the chord notation ‘cause it really let me get inside your head. It certainly helped me learn a thing or two should I ever attempt to seriously do one of these things myself. I don’t know if I’m qualified to enough to properly critique this in that I don’t know if I can execute one of these as well as you, but here are areas that I thought might be weak based on what I think the ‘rules’ are.

Measure 22. The use of D natural in general. As much as I love the sound of Lydian, it’s not working to my ears here.

Measure 23 F- to F7 Is this legal? - Only half kidding. - It does sound a bit unorthodox to me.

Violin1. Parallel 5ths from M. 28 - 29

Oh yeah, I can’t find much in the way of retrograde, inversion, or augmentation. Am I just missing these?

...based on what I think the ‘rules’ are.

I can’t find much in the way of retrograde, inversion, or augmentation.

These aren't required elements, are they? Or are you just pointing out that they might have been employed, but weren't?

Based on what I've read and heard, I always thought of them more as nifty "bells and whistles" to be employed if they're workable. Not every subject will permit them. In my treatment of the C major subject (I agree, Bakhtiyar...it looks easy, but it's not) I was able to squeeze in inversion, stretto and simultaneous statements of the subject; but I could never have made retrograde work (and it would have been pointless, I think), and the tempo was so slow that augmentation wouldn't have made any sense musically.

These aren't required elements, are they? Or are you just pointing out that they might have been employed, but weren't?

Based on what I've read and heard, I always thought of them more as nifty "bells and whistles" to be employed if they're workable. Not every subject will permit them. In my treatment of the C major subject (I agree, Bakhtiyar...it looks easy, but it's not) I was able to squeeze in inversion, stretto and simultaneous statements of the subject; but I could never have made retrograde work (and it would have been pointless, I think), and the tempo was so slow that augmentation wouldn't have made any sense musically.

No, they are not required elements - I was just kind making an allusion to the fact that a composer of cmajchord's abilities might want to experiment with these on his next run. Far be it from me to suggest that he must. Sorry about the missunderstanding. I defer to you guys on these matters for sure.

As for rules, they're meant for breaking , right?