What is a Fugue? (Music Appreciation) 

Couldn't have said it better myself

Every bach piece feels like a riddle you have to solve. The more you listen to it the more things you discover, the more you see the structure.

This is stupidly awesome and complex, I seriously can't wrap my head around how someone could *improvise* one of these.

This is how youtube should be

Some people spend their whole lives trying to teach - or understand - something you have managed to explain in 8 minutes and 29 seconds. Well done - and thank you!

Great Video! Absolutely Top Drawer! That fugue was a forgotten melody from my childhood! And I love how Bach ends this fugue very perfunctorily as though he got bored. He was such a show-off!

If Bach was not well-tempered, we could hear him say "Fugue you!" All the time

Woah, I was looking for the simple definition rather than the structure.. But this video is gold

1:43 "Of course, just playing a melody over and over would be rather boring [...]" Well, welcome to the world of minimalism...

I have never heard this so clearly, accurately and engagingly explained. I wish I'd known you when I was 8 years old!! thanks and well done.

Very interesting and well explained. I've always loved the "Little Fugue."

I can't tell one note from another, and your graphic representation is a BIG help for understanding what is all about. Thank!

I'm about to say something dumb, but, like Forest Gump, I am not a smart man. I don't get classical music. I didn't listen to Wagner in the womb; I wasn't raised on Rachmaninoff; Hayden was not my homeboy. But I am captivated in the last two or so years by this music! I don't know the lingo (except, they are not songs!) and lately, I've become acutely aware that I don't even know how to listen. I mean, I hear the music, but it's like I am only able to hear 70% of it. I CAN tell that there's more there than I am hearing, and it's frustrating to know that there is a whole level of understanding that I'm just not getting. It's like I can SEE the facade of the building. I know there's a wealth of architecture and design behind the obvious, but I have no idea what a door looks like, and no concept of how to begin to open it. So your stuff is incredibly helpful. I still can't tell where subject begins and answer ends - but the visual stuff really helped me start to see patterns. I still can't listen to more lines than one or maybe two with any degree of competence, so it's very helpful to watch your videos and at least start to know how to articulate exactly what it is I know I can hear. It's almost like this music is a foreign language: I can hear the sounds and know they are rich with meaning, but comprehending them is just not possible. Your videos are like a primer in grammar. Anyway, long story short, thanks for doing what you do. It's very helpful for people like me who are too dumb to really get what's going on, but not so dumb that they are oblivious to richer meaning available if only they could unlock it.

This is why Debussy is extraordinary because he found a new of writing music, departing from fugal style.

The detail and complexity of what is being described in music composition is amazing.

Short, concise and, thanks to the animation, easy to comprehend, this short video shows how voices are layered to create the architecture of this gorgeous art form. The Little Fugue in Gm is a perfect example to convey this.

I'm a new to Baroque music and kept coming across references to the fugue. Watching this wonderfully clear explanation and illustration of the art form has helped me enormously to understand. Thank you! (Now I must listen to more of Bach to develop a well-tempered ear!)

Thanks for explaining this, I was basically told a fugue was a round but more complicated (which I guess it kind of is in a sense) and this was a much more clear and detailed explanation.

Gazing into the mind of a genius - J.S. Bach. thanks for sharing!

Truly amazing. good job you have done here. I just began my musical studies and Bach turns out to be quiet intriguing. thank you for sharing Chris

Feel free to share with your class. A guy who wants to share for non financial gain. Bless you indeed. Now that is what life is all about. PS. Very well and intelligently put together. Thank you.

Thank you UM! Fugues are such a natural musical expression to me; they're supposedly constructed under strict rules but always sound so natural... I guess when done well everything is... 👊🙂

Love the visual presentation, you can almost see the diffrent colored points stretching the harmony between them.

You are exactly the channel I've been looking for forever. Thank you for existing!

I am here because I'm reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan and one of the first chapters in the book is called One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue. After reading the meaning of the word fugue, understood that I need a visual explanation. This was quite complex but I appreciated how detailed and visually accessible the explanation was. Thank you!

Thank you, Chris! This is very interesting. I think these composers must have been geniuses to put these pieces together. I liked the "dots" showing how the different parts look.

I love how the prelude and fugue I am studying was playing in the background

this was really helpful! i have to write my own fugue for school and this really helped my understanding. the animation at the end makes everything really easy to see. great video:)

Outstanding explanation. Bravo! I love the visual representation of the piece. It's way more exciting to watch than just an organist sitting at the organ. Again, wonderful video!

You should have way more subs bro, this is great

AMAZING explanation! Why this channel only has 6K subscribers is beyond me. These videos are among the best musical theory videos out there. Fantastic job Chris!

I have always used the chorus "He trusted in God" from Messiah to teach homophonic vs polyphonic. I think it's a little easier for students to identify a theme even when it's being modified if there are words to listen to.

Now I can finally understand all these dank memes

I could never understand it if not for this video's explanation. You made a VERY good job, thank you.

I have been a FUGUE FANATIC ever since my piano teacher introduced the WTC Book 1 and 2 when I was in my single digits. It stayed with me Forever.. I studied classical composition at MSM and USC and I use counterpoint in my pieces a LOT.. Its my foundation :)

Thanks for creating this, explained with great clarity and as the man himself says, a perfect use of his brilliant work.

This has to be the best video on fugue. Amazing job man! It felt like an astronomy class on music. Welcome to Bach’s world! Subscribed. 👍🏻

Dude,,,even though you were a little fast on the jaw,,I understood everything you said,,it opened a portal for me,, I'll keep going over this,to help me write the guitar fugue I always wanted to write for classical guitar,,bless you.

Beautifully explained! Thank you.

Well done! And fun to follow with the graphic. So interesting to “see” and hear music at the same time.

Amazing and Awesome content! Appreciated your hardwork. Thank you very much! LOVE IT.

Great job Chris! Thank you.

I couldn't praise you more! this was awesome!

Chris -- THANKS sooooo much for a BIG pile of CLARITY!!!

Bravo! Bravissimo! Great lesson!

Such a brilliant channel! Thanks for sharing something worthy and interesting.

Thank you for the explanation.

Oh, "On reflection" and "Little fugue" mentioned in one video? My favourite pieces! I must subscribe now!

Absolutely terrific diagram. Thanks.

This is an awesome video. A classical musician friend of mine, once tried to explain fugues and the brilliance of Bach in words and as a dilettante I wasn't able to grasp it, but I always yearned to. Thank you!

I wish every song i listened to had that visualizer at the end of the video. I feel like that reached my visually inclined brain so easily. All the words you spoke prior to it suddenly clicked.

Wow! Great analysis and use of visuals.

Brilliant presentation of 4 melodic lines!!

Wow I did never thought I would be able to learn to appreciate a fugue. Thanks for this

Well, I truly learned something new today. And I will never hear a fugue in the same old way anymore. Thank you.

So much knowledge... thx for sharing.

The visualization is immensely helpful.

Thanks for making this video, it easy to understand, and it's not boring!

Incredibly well explained. Please keep doing what you are doing!

Thank you so much for this explicit and well-illustrated session!

i'd include the name of the fugue (Little Fugue) in the description, too. for those who want to look it up after the video is over. other than that, great stuff.

Fantastic presentation. And THANK YOU for knowing the difference between "its" and "it's."

I love the visual illustration of the live song.

5:00 - the end.....i just realize that bach was a monster

Thanks for making this video, excellent explanation!

What a cool visual representation, I could watch it all day

Brilliant! Beautiful! Thank you for de-mystifying this wonderful music. I do wish you much success and hope you make a lot of $$$$$ for your work. The artwork of the dots showing us the different voices in the music.....genius!

Thank you Christopher!

Chris, great video! Thank you.

Wow !! Extraordinary explanation ! Very good !! A must to any musician out there !!

What a beautiful piece of music. So complicated yet so catchy and hooky.

Thank you for this wonderful video.

Fascinating! Very nicely explained

Good explanation, thank you for sharing!

The visual representations of the music structure helps a lot. Thank you.

This definitely deepened my appreciation for classical music

Great example, great information! Thanks!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS EXPLANATION

Gorgeous ! Thanks !

This is a great video, loved the graphical explanation. Thanks a lot for your hard work.

Wow, great video! Nice job!

Thank you for this!

Amazing video - thank you!

This video was fantastic! I'm self-taught, and I've written some compositions. I'll learn a lot here on this channel. I love Bach. Thank you!

Omg, do this kind of videos again! Maybe more elementary stuffs like counterpoint? The motivation behind the idea, and how it was refined, what makes a counterpoint 'good' and how it eventually impacts the listener and why the idea lasts to this modern days in composition.

Excellent presentation!

Interesting and useful visual presentation of the fugue style of music.

Awesome visualisation!

This video fullfilled its purpose. The piece of Bach which is used in this video changed my perspective of J.S. Bach. Thanks a lot, fugues are marvelous

Nicely done - I learned some things! I like the visualization tool.

Great video! I love the visualisation :)

love this one. super helpful for someone who knows basically nothing about music!

great explanations !! The simulation you create to demonstrate the voices is genius ! Best in the web.

Thank you so much for this!

Great video! This deserves more views. Let's spread the word!

thank you for posting!!!

Thank you, I think I will have to watch a few times. This video is a key to mystery.

Great video, thank you so much!

Very detail explanation for 8.30 minutes video. Thanks for sharing.