Young Composers' Fugue Challenge

This is what I would like to develop:

Hmm. I think that sort of defeats the purpose a little, unless you are changing the subject so that it is completely original? I think this is a workable subject. Like I've said, I've written a fuge on it, though short (1:24).

Fuges are alot of fun to write, and a good challenge. Perhaps I'll challenge later when I write another and maybe you will like that subject.

I understand what you are saying, but I do not think the subject you gave me will yield the kind of result I would be proud of, so I have made changes to it to encourage my creativity. Coming up with beautiful and versatile subjects is an art in itsself, and the changes I made suit my writing style. If you'd rather, I won't bother with it, but there are things about the subject you gave which I find very awkard and unworkable. I have standards, and did offer an alternative.

Feel free to write a fuge on the altered subject, if you like, Brandon. I personally felt that this thread was made more worthwhile with your given subjects that had to be worked into a fuge. It made it more of a challenge. The Gmajor is still giving me problems though :P

As far as standards go, I'm not sure what yours are, so that will make it rather difficult to challenge you with a subject.

Here's my fuge on the Dm theme I provided. It's short, I take license with it (for instance, the fourth entry is cut short, and I rely on incomplete statements quite a bit throughout, and intervalic licence). I wrote it during the same month as the Cm fuge, the experimental fuge in "crash course" and some other music I've been working on. I've received positive feedback on it, though. No one has said it's awkward. But hey..

Hey, Paul, nice job with the Cmin subject. A very unique approach, using a very different harmonic language. Good work!

I think I've realized why I love the Cmin subject sooo much. Check out the fugue subject form Bach's Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537, and compare. Our C min melody could almost be an elaboration of that one!

- BE

Hey, Paul, nice job with the Cmin subject. A very unique approach, using a very different harmonic language. Good work!

I think I've realized why I love the Cmin subject sooo much. Check out the fugue subject form Bach's Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537, and compare. Our C min melody could almost be an elaboration of that one!

- BE

Thank you for the feedback, BE :P I worked hard on that.

Though... I half suspected that the style police were going to arrest me(not you, though), put me in baroque jail, and beat me with a lute string, but I guess I've been spared. That's why I announced my intentions with certain sections, to make it clear they were purposeful.

Btw - do you think bar 81 is practical for a string section?

I don't see why this post, with its obvious popularity (given the number of replies and views) shouldn't be "pinned" as well.

I agree. Pinned!

Btw - do you think bar 81 is practical for a string section?

The midi never displays correctly in my program, so the bars don't line up correctly with what you wrote. Give me a an approximation of the time at which measure 81 occurs and I should be able to find it!

- BE

Pinned!

Yayyy!

- BE

Short cadenza (perhaps free form elaboration is a better term) starts at 2:40 and goes to 2:43

Hmm, well in time it looks to be quite difficult. If it is a true cadenza, then it might be more practical to remove the "alto" harmony at that point, and delegate the passage to a single violin soloist. The soloist could bend the tempo ad lib., but the re-entry of the theme should be a tempo.

If its not a true cadenza, then I would suggest keeping it in time, and altering the violin I part.

Hope that helps!

- BE

Hmm, well in time it looks to be quite difficult. If it is a true cadenza, then it might be more practical to remove the "alto" harmony at that point, and delegate the passage to a single violin soloist. The soloist could bend the tempo ad lib., but the re-entry of the theme should be a tempo.

If its not a true cadenza, then I would suggest keeping it in time, and altering the violin I part.

Hope that helps!

- BE

Considered using a solo violin for that part. Thanks for your time and comments. :blink: I do need to get a decent book on orchestration for instruments I don't play (obviously violin is one), so I don't write music that is unlikely to be played well by the majority of instrumentalists. Had a similiar issue in "judgement day" with the trumpet part.

Fugue in C Minor

a 3 voci

I used a few "bits" from the other c minor's :P

Wow, nice job there, real impressive. This is the nicest fugue I've heard on this subject so far.

I don't know how this subject lends itself contrapuntally too well, but personally I would have made the counter-subject material a little less busy and more singable. The sequences are beautiful though. Good job.

Hey Brandon, I just listened twice to your fuge on the Cm theme and enjoyed it very much. Versatile subject indeed! I especially liked the different entries of imitative counterpoint between bars 69-84 and the sequence of quick sequential key changes I'm hearing around bars 108-112.

Aw man, great thread. Keep it up. Like... forever.

Of course if you want to please a guy like me up the tempo a little bit, I love the chaotic feeling that fast counterpoint gives. Its like you don't have enough time to listen to it all at once.

I agree. Pinned!

I take that to mean that we can still continue to post fugues on the subjects given by Brandon here? I've started working on the C minor subject, because I saw that many fugues had been posted already for that one and I thought "This must be a wonderful and inspiring subject".

Well, I've resisted the temptation to look at other fugues on the same subject to avoid borrowing material, even though I may unconsciously be borrowing from other material anyway. :D

I've decided to write a 4-voice fugue, but I have slightly changed the original subject: instead of ending with F-G-Ab, I ended it with F#-G-A, thereby making that subject modulating into the dominant. This allows me to make all voices enter without the need for a bridge. Of course, I've mutated the tail of the answer to modulate back to the tonic.

I hope it's OK to do something like that.

The good thing is: the subject being (slightly) different, the outcome will naturally be (enormously) different. :thumbsup:.

Raphael

Hello,

Here's a subject in A minor which I invented last year. I have written a scholar fugue on it, as a mandatory assignment... It was my very first fugue, and it's certainly full of mistakes.

I'll post it here later, but I'd like to see how you would develop that subject.

Happy composing,

Raphael

Hello,

Here's a subject in A minor which I invented last year.

Oops, forgot to attach it... Here it is, in PDF and MIDI form.

Raphael

subject-a-minor.pdf

subject-a-minor.mid

Here is my fugue on the (slightly altered) Cm subject from Brandon's challenges, a 4 voci.

You will find here:

Index of /music/fugues/challenges/cm

the score and two MP3 MIDI realizations of it: one for organ, which outlines the harmonic progression better, and one for 4 winds (flute, oboe, English horn, French horn) which outlines the individual voices better.

Please comment, this is the only way to progress.

Raphael

Well, I haven't got any feedback at all on the C minor fugue I posted a while back. I hope it's not a sign that my fugue was so bad nobody dares to say anything about it...

Anyway, I have completed a fuge on the C major theme, a 4 voci. You can get the score, the MIDI and an MP3 realization here:

Index of /music/fugues/challenges/c

I've chosen a slow tempo for that fugue, and therefore in order to keep it short enough and well-balanced, I have limited the number of episodes, sticking mostly to subjet expositions in various forms and other contrapuntal imitations. There's only one short modulating sequence at the end of the exposition, the other transitions being made via free material.

Although the C minor fugue was rather cheerful, this C major one is more expressive, showing that major does not necessarily mean "happy" and minor "sad".

Enjoy,

Raphael

Both of your treatments were enjoyable to listen to, though I am partial to the counterpoint in the C-Major one. It flowed well. It seems everyone only wants to treat the C Major and C Minor one. I wonder why that is.

Nice job!

Thanks for the feedback, it's always nice to get some.

I've had a private remark that my treatment of the C major subject (if you forgive the direct 5th at measure 8 between bass and soprano -- sorry, just put the previous A in the bass an octave above) was nice but not "fugal enough". I need to practice this art some more.

I intend to eventually write a fugue for all the other subjects, as part of my training. Not necessarily in the order they were given though, I will seek guidance from my teacher as to which one I should pursue next.

The reason I picked C minor and major is that there were some previous fugues posted here for these subjects, and that I could compare the different treatments once I was done.

I've never written a fugue before, but on sunday afternoon I randomly decided to try my hand at one - I wrote the subject not really knowing whether or not it would work very well, and I have minimal (or rather, nonexistent) background to counterpoint. Nevertheless, I've managed to finish a four-part exposition with which I'm quite pleased, but I don't really know what to do next. The 'crash-course' pdf. file seems to have dissapeared form its former page on the forum. . . .

I know it's supposed to be an episode involving flying through as many keys as possible and sort of randomly playing around with your subject's head and tail, but other than that, I'm clueless as to what I should actually do.

Any chance of some brief advice on what rules I should be following (bearing in mind I'm just about to have a cadence into the dominant). Do I need to get back to the tonic for the episode? What material do I base it on? What does it even include? What's with multiple episodes/developments?

P.S I just listened to Brandon's treatment of the C-minor subject. I liked everything except the start of the exposition - I felt it got hugely complicated far to quickly. I think I'm more partial to expositions that get exponentially more ostentatious and dramatic as they progress.