Trying to write a Fugue

I don't really have composition knowledge or experience I do like fugues a lot and have learned the first two from WTC 1 on piano. This is incomplete I am wondering what we think so far

B Majuh.pdf

Hi, @draingxngceo!

This is short, but personally, I think it doesn't sound bad - not gonna lie, so far so good: it depends on how it develops from here, but it will sound good I guess. As of now, it’s difficult to get a glimpse of the overall characteristics of this piece—the last part feels a bit awkward. I'm not sure, but I feel like in this piece, you might be focusing too much on using a fugue, prioritizing it over the clarity of the motif or the subtlety of the development. Look at Bach's works, for example—while they are fugues, in many of them, the musical character of the piece seems to stand out more than the fugue structure itself.

Anyway, since you mentioned it's incomplete, I’m looking forward to seeing how you develop it from here. When it's finished, please be sure to post it in this forum! You'll be able to get more detailed feedback from knowledgeable people, maybe.

I don't know music theory, so I can't offer any specific ideas (sorry), but I'm sharing this piece with you because you love fugues!😁

Also, welcome to the forum, let's enjoy this forum together :)

Best,

Lithl.

HELLO

Let me just say that if you have no experience in composition, you’ve got a long way to go before you can compose a proper fugue.

I get the impression you must have some knowledge of counterpoint.

But before you start composing fugues, you need to master other, less demanding areas of strict counterpoint.

It’s simply not possible to come up with a logically structured composition just by studying two of Bach’s fugues and leaving it at that.

What you’ve written doesn’t sound bad, but, in my opinion, there’s a point (which I think is the one mentioned by @Lithl ) where everything falls apart quite a bit, and that’s in bar 6. Because you’re forming a D#–A tritone which, although the intention is for some of these to be passing notes, I think that should resolve into a Bb chord. Enharmonically, you have Eb–A, a tritone which, in this context, must resolve in this way. The solution you’ve suggested for another context is fine, but here, at least for me, it ruins the whole thing.

Edited October 29Oct 29 by Luis Hernández

20 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

HELLO

Let me just say that if you have no experience in composition, you’ve got a long way to go before you can compose a proper fugue.

I get the impression you must have some knowledge of counterpoint.

But before you start composing fugues, you need to master other, less demanding areas of strict counterpoint.

It’s simply not possible to come up with a logically structured composition just by studying two of Bach’s fugues and leaving it at that.

What you’ve written doesn’t sound bad, but, in my opinion, there’s a point (which I think is the one mentioned by @Lithl ) where everything falls apart quite a bit, and that’s in bar 6. Because you’re forming a D#–A tritone which, although the intention is for some of these to be passing notes, I think that should resolve into a Bb chord. Enharmonically, you have Eb–A, a tritone which, in this context, must resolve in this way. The solution you’ve suggested for another context is fine, but here, at least for me, it ruins the whole thing.

How would you recommend I go about learning counterpoint? I would like to study counterpoint further it is true that I have a little base knowledge but not much.

I would heavily recommend starting with an introductory textbook on harmony, such as this one by the ABRSM which you can view for free. The counterpoint you're interested in (18th-century counterpoint) is essentially the usage and adaptation of (16th century) contrapuntal techniques in the context of harmony, so detailed knowledge of the latter is absolutely essential.

One thing I noticed about what I wrote is that I slightly varied the subject in the different statements. The subject ends on a low B which in the first statement is cut off because I wanted to follow it immediately with some sixteenths. The second statement holds that B for a longer duration, and in the third statement it's even longer. Is this an error?

5 hours ago, draingxngceo said:

One thing I noticed about what I wrote is that I slightly varied the subject in the different statements. The subject ends on a low B which in the first statement is cut off because I wanted to follow it immediately with some sixteenths. The second statement holds that B for a longer duration, and in the third statement it's even longer. Is this an error?

For me the tail of a fugue subject is always less strict than the head, so I think your fugal statements are ok. Just make sure to follow useful suggestions from above and you will write better counterpoint!

Henry

Hi @draingxngceo!

First of all, a hearty welcome here to the forum. I’m very excited about your post, because your passion for fugues and the attempt to compose your own ones after studying the Well-Tempered Clavier remind me of my own first steps in composition many years ago.

You have tagged the post with „beginner“ and mentioned that you „don’t really have composition knowledge or experience“. However, the short „sketch“ of an exposition of a fugue is not „nothing“, so I think you indeed have acquired a basic knowledge about fugues through studying the ones from the WTC (or you are just extraordinary talented from nature :-)).

That said, some of my more general explanations about fugues below might be obvious to you, but that basic knowledge on fugue writing/analysis might be interesting or useful for other readers, too.

Getting started.

Before I’ve listened your fugue exposition for the first time, I took a look at the score to get an initial impression. At the first glance, it is not entirely obvious what key the piece is in and how long the fugue subject is. Your fugue subject does not prominently start at the pitch of B or G# and the last note of the fugue subject can only be identified by comparing all three subject entries: It is a B, the first sixteenth note in measure two. Therefore, I am now certain that the fugue is in the key of B major (which is perhaps hinted at by the title “B Majuh,” but—I’m curious—what language is that?).

12 hours ago, draingxngceo said:

One thing I noticed about what I wrote is that I slightly varied the subject in the different statements. The subject ends on a low B which in the first statement is cut off because I wanted to follow it immediately with some sixteenths. The second statement holds that B for a longer duration, and in the third statement it's even longer. Is this an error?

No that is not an error - it makes it somewhat harder to analyze the fugue.

With that first impression and the comment of @Luis Hernández I have now taken a closer look at your fugue in order to conduct a more detailed analysis and perhaps offer some suggestions or solutions for the few issues I noticed or that have already been mentioned by other reviewers. Below you will find my annotated score as well as an audio version.

The fugue subject.

A fugue starts with the introduction of its central melodic material, called the fugue subject. As the fugue subject is introduced by one voice solo, anyone can easily recognize a fugue.

A melody to be used as a fugue subject must meet certain requirements in order to be suitable for this purpose:

It should have a distinctive melodic and rhythmic character so that it is memorable. The melody may contain smaller fragments (motifs) that can be developed later in the fugue independently.

The subject must clearly define the home key (tonic). However, a good fugue subject avoids a final, closed cadence and appears “open” to forward motion.

Typically, subjects are relatively short (from one to four bars), although they can be longer, and stay within a moderate range (often an octave or less). The melody should maintain a steady flow - with a mix of rhythmic activity - that creates and preserves momentum.

You’ve created an interesting fugue subject that meets almost all of these requirements. I especially like its memorable rhythmic character. Starting with rests (I see, you have studied Bach’s fugues from the WTC where he often starts its fugue subjects with rests), helps that the subsequent subject entries encounter seamlessly in the continuing flow of the fugue and prevents that the fugues rhythm becomes too „static“ or „blocky“. The only „weakness“ concerning the above definitions is that it „meanders“ around the home key B before the tonic is established by the final note. There is nothing wrong with that fact – it might bring some more harmonic freedom or possibilities within the further development.

In my annotated score I have emphasized the fugue subject in blue color and marked its start with the letter T (i.e. „Thema“ for subject in German). As you can see, I have separated the last sixteenth note of the subject from the following ones and included a caesura in the phrasing to emphasize the end of the subject and to separate it somewhat from the following sixteenth-notes runs, which represent the (beginning) of the counterpoint.

Dux and Comes.

Once the subject has been played by the first voice, it is then imitated - one after the other - by the other voices.

The answer is not a repetition of the subject on the same pitch, but transposed one, up a fifth (or down a fourth) to the dominant.

Such an answer is called “Comes” (i.e., companion), while the original subject entry is called “Dux” (i.e., leader).

The third voice enters again in the tonic as Dux, the fourth voice - if present - in the dominant as Comes, and so on (although there may be deviations from the order Dux - Comes - Dux - Comes).

Your fugue exposition consists of three voices which create an „ordinary“ arrangement of Dux and Comes:

• First subject entry as Dux in the Soprano in the tonic key of B major,

• second subject entry as Comes in the Alto in the dominant ky of F# major and finally

• third subject entry as Dux in the Tenor (or Bass) in the tonic key of B major.

Real and Tonal Answer.

Whenever the subject entry by the Comes is a literal, note-by-note transposition of the original subject as played by the Dux up a perfect fifth, we speak of a „real answer”.

However, it might be necessary for some kinds of subjects to perform a slightly modified transposition - called „tonal answer” - especially with regard to the dominant note (i.e. the 5th scale degree), if it appears prominently at the beginning of the subject.

In the second subject entry you have altered the first pitch from an A# (as it would be when applying a literal transposition) to a B, in order to stay in the tonic key of B major for the first while. That is a kind of a „tonal answer“, but interestingly not applied at the fifth or the fourth, but on the third. There is nothing wrong with it; rather, it proofs that the fugue subject is somewhat „advanced“ or „challenging“ in its harmonic line.

Counterpoint and Countersubject.

The counterpoint is a distinct melodic line that accompanies the fugue subject (or its answer) in a different voice.

It provides musical contrast and rhythmic independence against the main subject.

Whenever it appears more than once, it is also called „countersubject” - as it is a recurring companion of the subject, perhaps throughout the entire fugue, but at least during the exposition.

It must be constructed to sound harmonically correct when inverted (e.g., if it is used below and above the subject), calling it an „invertable counterpoint”.

If the melodic line accompanying the subject does not return regularly, it is considered rather than a formal countersubject.

Your counterpoint is a „free counterpoint“, not a recurring one that could be considered to be a „countersubject“. Because of its sixteenth note figures, it moves forward, introducing momentum. Furthermore, especially in bar 5, you have distributed that movement between the Soprano and Alto which is a good example for counterpoint in its rhythmically sense. All in all that rhythmic texture creates a (nearly) perfect „complementary rhythm“, that is when the different voices complement to each other so that there exists a played note on every sixteenth beat, from whatever voice it comes.

In the transition from mm. 3 to mm. 4 I have introduced some slightly modifications (highlighted in yellow) in order to

• emphasize that complementary rhythm, ensuring that all sixteenth notes beats „are played“

• mitigating the somewhat „thin sounding“ octave on F# on the first note of mm. 4 (even if it is not a parallel octave, that particular note sounds „thin“ for my ears, causing me to “stumble” a bit while listening).

By the way, the tritone in bar 6 – which was mentioned by @LuisHernandez – does not sound so bad to my ears, so my mitigation for that passage is also more a rhythmic modification in the sense of complementary rhythm (with the benefit that the dissonance is shifted more to a passing note):

Exposition and Development.

The complete, subsequent entries of the fugue subject in all voices is called a development of the subject.

The first of that development sections - e.g. the initial introduction of the fugue subject through all voices - is called the exposition, since the subject is presented here for the first time, usually obeying the rules of „Dux and Comes” as explained above, thus presenting the subject in the tonic and the answer in the dominant key.

In the subsequent development sections, those „rules” are often interpreted more „relaxed”, meaning that the subject now appears - after a modulation by an interlude (or „episod”) - in other keys (such as related keys as the dominant or subdominant or the parallel key, or even in more distant or unrelated keys).

Furthermore, now „fugal arts”, such as inversion, augmentation and diminution and stretto are applied increasingly to depict the subject in an altered nature, or to create tension.

In the closing section of a fugue, the subject finally returns to the tonic key, sometimes over a tonic or dominant pedalpoint. There might be a passage after the ultimate subject entry, which is called a coda and whichs purpose is to bring the fugue to the end with the respective cadence.

Your short example (measures 1 to 6) is – in my opinion – a good exercise for a fugue exposition.

Episodes .

An episode is a transitional section that separates the development sections of a fugue, acting as an interlude to modulate between keys and to create contrast.

Episodes often feature sequential repetition of a melodic pattern, which contributes to the modulation and creates a sense of forward momentum.

As a general “rule”, the complete fugue subject does not appear within an episode. However, episodes typically - though not always - use motifs derived from the subject or countersubject.

Measures 7 and 8 could be the beginning of an episode (while I consider mm. 8 „unfinished“ in the soprano part). When listening that final two bars, I could imagine, that the fugue subject re-enters in the second half of bar 8, thus closing the gap in the soprano part with its first upbeat-motif ...

Conclusion.

I very enjoyed your attempt at composing a fugue and I’m excited to hear more about the success of that fugue(s).

Perhaps, my comments and my slightly modified version can be useful in that process. (And as you can see – and hopefully hear -, I have introduced some extend of dynamics, articulation and tempo changes in the score and audio, expressing somewhat how I would interprete the piece as a piano player.)

As for the suggestions to start by studying books and trying out “simpler exercises” (such as inventions, etc.) - yes, that’s undoubtedly true. However, if you enjoy trying out writing fugues, I would strongly recommend to continue that - and, of course, study Bach’s fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier - only the best source is good enough for learning!

B-Majuh-colored.pdf

Edited 5 minutes ago5 min by Wieland Handke