Well -- fugues are far more than an academic rigid contrapunctual structure. They are drama put into music! They tend to be very fond and emotional pieces, no matter how abstract could be their composition. That's the reason they seem amazing and delightful to me. Thank you for your precise exposition. :3
In reality fugues in themselves are no more than academic rigid contrapunctal structures and in fact only the highest genius can express drama and true emotions when writing fugues.
This is a great lesson! I used to write fugues but it’s one of those things if you don’t do it for a while you will forget the rules. This a great refresher. Enjoy seeing your videos!
The last symphonic movement finished by Mozart, the 4th of his 41st symphony is, I now understand a bit better, full of the compositional notions and forms of the fugue form. Always knew there was something a bit special and different about it but couldn't put my finger on it (somehow 'old-fashioned' sounding in parts), but run through with Mozart's sublime turns and twists of phrase, and exquisite balance of finish! If you've not heard it I highly recommend, it's an explosion of fugal fireworks through the creative window of a (THE) later master of the 'classical' style, and a fitting hurrah to wee Wolfgang's symphonic output, bless his peerless soul.
I keep watching videos on the fugue in the hopes that someone will eventually give some insight into how to compose them. But with few exceptions, they all give the same tired description of the form. It's as if the most complicated thing is deciding which voice to put the theme in. The kind of thing I'm looking for is the way that Bach will frequently alternate moving notes with held notes - so one voice moves while the other holds and vice versa. This gives a nice conversational effect, and thins the note texture while leaving the number of voices the same - making it easier to hear all the voices. Fugues are not just a form, they are an artform in which the most voices can be heard at the same time. The fun is trying to hear them all at the same time, and this requires work on the part of the listener, but also the composer, and the performer. Most of these introductions dont mention that. Gould doesnt do that, but he does describe what is happening in one of the fugues, EbMajor maybe from book II, in an interview with Bruno Monsaingeon
on Bach: the 2 ricercare mentioned were written at the end of his life, here mentioned as early compositions. it was also 48 preludes and fugues, two of each key. the example of stretto shown here illustrate augmentation more than stretto. stretti tend to use the subject without procedure (augmentation, diminution, inversion, etc). Mozart and Beethoven, although few, also wrote fugues, not only fugal passages. these imprecisions distort a little bit the quality of this video
I feel harsh to say a criticism about this video because it’s very good, but the fugue examples chosen could have been better to make the video easier to understand
Yes, and he compounds the error by mentioning that these Ricercare were written in 1747, but that fugues later became "more common" as Bach and Handel composed more and more. In fact, 1747 was pretty close to the end of the fugal period.
Bach is technically considered a part of the rococo period. The "transition" between baroque and classical methods. In fact, he was considered old fashioned during his day. Imagine Duke Ellington, composing big band music in 1990. No one would have cared. Same for Johann unfortunately. :(
This video has a lot of misinformation. You make it sound like Bach used the term Ricecar early in his career, but the musical offering was one of his last works, also the fugue form was already out of fashion in Bach’s time.
I still can’t believe that your channel isn’t more famous yet. I know this is a really cliche comment, but every time I watch a video, I always think of how I’d love to see more like it! I always want to show them to my theory teacher as well😂
In my two years of composing music I never realised that I was writing and creating fugues! I would incorporate these techniques because I heard them in songs prior or learned through experimentation. It’s so interesting and has given me a broader understanding of music, thanks for the insightful video!
Yes! I actually started getting into the more melodic approach to writing music last week. From time to time you get tired of the purely vertical "chord" harmony. I feel very inspired, thank you! edit/ I'm sorry if there are any grammatical errors in the text
You just gave a better explanation of negative harmony (inversion) in 10 seconds than I have heard on whole videos about negative harmony. Well done! This was such an informative video
Polychoron, I'm sorry for my inadequate English. Quote 6:13: "Usually, each subject will have it's own exposition, but they may be introduced at the same time". What do you mean by "may be at the same time"? If you want to compose a triple fugue, each fugue need separate expositions! Not everyone agree with me on this, but do they write triple fugues? My last triple fugue in old style consist of 232 measures. Some "scholars" teach the listeners that the fugue BWV 847, with 31 measures, is a triple fugue. I deserve to get paid for those 201 measures extra. But how to get paid if both pieces are triple fugues?
I can after several years still not quite understand Bach. But one thing I believe, Fugue is what Bach considers singing to instruments. He's in my mind hearing several teams of singing teams and all he does is moves them around in his mind. Mind you with 'all' comes his genius. It's just nasty.
