Young Composers' Fugue Challenge

Thank you for the encouragement

I see you've encountered the same problems I have Bach88, keeping the subject in the key of the moment. very nice moments and frases in it though.

Well I haven't finished my fuge yet. To be honest, its plane hard work. I get grumpy sometimes for the lack of progress :P

At the moment I've been staring to much at it, so I need a push.

Lot of ugly transitions/modulations , bar 16 for example

I tried to krampack it with all kinds of stuff like a stretto, imitation and inversion.

I put marks in the pdf file:

T is subject :

T inv is subject inverted :

t is imitation/partial :

apart from any welcome comment/ advice, I would like to ask if I can compose an end to the fuge now, or do I have to repeat the subject (in original length) once more in all 3 voices?

subject6.mp3

I just wanted to say great job to those fuguists who have posted fugues since I have been here last, they sound great!

-Brandon

* BUMP *

I want newer members to see this thread and try their hand at this. Besides, there are some very good fugue submissions here.

Brandon (aka Recursion and Puck) has wisdom beyond his years where composition is concerned, and he's right when he says that nothing will help you develop compositional technique faster and more effectively than exercises like this - even if you don't intend to include fugues in your output as a composer. If you want to develop strong bones and muscles, you exercise and work hard at it. This is the same thing.

I've been composing for over 30 years, and I know how to write a fugue. But something about these subjects engaged another part of my mind and opened up a whole new area for me...I don't know how else to explain it. Working on just two - TWO - of these subjects changed me as a composer forever, and very much for the better. I encourage you to give them a try.

*gulp* here i go writing my first fugue. I read the wikipedia entry, anything else i should know? Im not a classical kinda guy but we just played 'gevokna fanfare' by Jack Stamp for wind ensemble and it had a fugue, so im guessing you can have modern sounding fugues.

Good for you, Jay, and good luck. Yes, you can have modern-sounding fugues, but if I were you, I'd try a textbook one first, then move on to something freer and more modern. That's just my suggestion, though. Do as you see fit, and enjoy it. You won't be sorry.

I have become interested in the fugues and preludes by Shostakovich.

Does anybody know where I could get ahold of those?

Maybe we should disect one of Bach's Fugues and compare it to Shostakovich's and find what different principals each worked with, in other words what are the similarities and differences?

I have become interested in the fugues and preludes by Shostakovich.

Does anybody know where I could get ahold of those?

Maybe we should disect one of Bach's Fugues and compare it to Shostakovich's and find what different principals each worked with, in other words what are the similarities and differences?

I don't know where you can find them but today, I heard a 16 yr old kid playing one of Shostakovich's fugues. This kid was amazing. He played them nearly flawlessly. I say nearly because he missed a few notes. Which is expected because the performance before, he played rach's 2nd piano concerto.

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.

Thanks :whistling:

Also note that I know it is unplayable. I am not a pianist, and so I am doing this on Sibelius merely as an exercise with no intention of a performance.

Fugue_6.mid

I've tried only one, the C major fugue #1. the subject looks a lot like the subject of WTC 1, so I decided to treat it like the master did, with stretto. I also placed a retrograde in the soprano line. (and I can say I wrote it in an hour and a half )

Fugue_exercise_in_C_major.MUS

I declare myself the loser for the C Major competition - But hey, I had a lot of fun writing mine, exploring more than a few genres on the way. It started out as a fugue, but very shortly became an excursion on a theme, but using quite a bit of strettos along the way, and augmentationa and inversion for kicks, forget retrograde (didn't get around to it) - and all coming back to the theme at the end, although not with your standard harmonic pallette. Can anyone else possibly like this?? I don't think my own mother could.

Psuedo_Fugue_in_C_Major.MID

Psuedo_Fugue_in_C_Major.MUS

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

Subject_No_12_in_b_Min_Version_1.mid

This is my attempt for the fugue in B minor.

This is excuted by a 'string ensemble', but more combinations of instruments are possible.

Fuga_in_B_klein.mid

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

fugue_4.MUS

cminfugue4.MID

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

[/b]

This is Great! I appreciate the chord notation

...based on what I think the

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 :glare:, right?

Hey, no worries. Inasmuch as I taught myself counterpoint, I always wonder whether I got it quite right.

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

I'm thinking so more and more...though personally I tend to work better in a strait-jacket than in bermuda shorts on a beach with a Mai-Tai in my hand, if you get the picture. I'm trying to lighten up just a little. I don't go into convulsions when I see/hear parallel fifths anymore. :glare:

well thanks for the feedback. I found a couple of inconsistencies myself like parellel octaves and such. It's tough work. I thought about trying to augment the motive and use it as a bass line, but when I tried it I had a really hard time making it go somewhere. Also augmentation (and diminution) seems a bit harder in compound meter.

The chord symbols where left over from my thoght process, I forgot to delete them... Some of them may even be in correct since I typed them in as I was working and then revised the progressions.

Also as far as rules, they were compiled from analysis of sucessful works, not the other way around. They do, however, help the composer to avoid "awkward" unstylistic moments. If a transparent sound is what you're looking for, then parallel 5ths and octaves are fine. The ones in my piece, on the other hand, aren't....

Parallel fifths and octaves can often be avoided by using suspensions and florid embellishments. As for the devices--augmentations, diminutions, and inversions--it's very rare that a subject lends itself to a strict permutation. Intervals will change. It's just important that the general shape of the new melody reflect its derivation from the original.

I don't think diminution would be appropriate anywhere in a fugue on this c minor subject, and an augmentation doesn't necessarily have to be proportionately elongated or even state the subject in its entirety.

OTOH, the diminutions would work well for a subject that already has longer note values, and is something more appropriate to fugues (or rather ricercari) in the stile antico.

Wow, I can't believe I missed this thread. I'm studying counterpoint right now, so this looks like a great opportunity to flex my muscles a bit! Right now it's very late, though. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a look at the subjects and see if I can come up with some ideas. I look forward to being able to avail myself of the benefit of critique from the likes of BE and Lee, should they stoop to listen to my humble attempts. :P

Aw, hush! :P

By all means, give it a try! These subjects that Bradon Homayouni came up with are wonderfully challenging and infinitely rewarding. I've only managed to treat two of them, and I grew exponentially.