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any doubts about the overall climax anyway. Bar 4 represents the relative minor to the
subdominant, which is then followed by the dominant and the final tonic (ex. 10).
bars 1-5
5.
bars 25-29
2.
bars 5-9
6.
bars 39-43
3.
bars 9-13
7.
bars 47-51
4.
bars 21-25
8.
bars 51-55
(ex. 11)
Apart from the interval modification in the answer (where the falling fifth in the first bar
becomes a fourth) the subject does not experience any changes; neither does it appear in
any stretto or parallel setting.
5) are closely related to the subjects final two bars, and only the counter-subjects
second half with its ascending scale, syncopation and closing-formula contributes new
components. Another shortcoming of this counter-subject is the fact that its unabridged
version remains restricted to the middle voice, appearing always in accompaniment to
an upper-voice subject statement, and thus lacks true polyphonic versatility.
The inner structure of this phrase poses an important question for the contrapuntal
setting in this fugue. Following the pitch pattern of descending sequences in the first
two bars of the counter-subject, most performers will choose to interpret these as
expressing gradually lessening tension. After the lowest note A, the ascending scale
would then support an increase towards the syncopation, after which the closingformula brings a relaxation.
With this dynamic outline in mind, let us go back to our two options for the
interpretation of the phrase structure in the subject. We shall find that the concept
described above for the counter-subject is ideally suited to balance the concept of the
subject as an indivisible phrase. In the case of a subject consisting of two dynamic
curves, however, this interpretation of the counter-subject is most unlikely as it would
create simultaneous phrase cuts in both voices and thus interrupt the polyphonic texture
in quite an awkward way. (Performers who definitely prefer a divided interpretation of
the subject must therefore render the counter-subject as an unbroken phrase, beginning
with an extended crescendo.)
The two sketches display the options available for the phrase structure and dynamic
design in subject and counter-subject.
(ex. 12)
E1
bars 13-21
E3
bars 43-47
E2
bars 29-39
E4
bars 55-83
At this point it might be interesting to learn that Bachs first version of this fugue
(according to the Kellner manuscript) ended on bar 68d. The composer later re-wrote
the perfect cadence in bars 67/68 as an interrupted cadence and added sixteen bars on a
pedal note C. This extended coda certainly concludes the piece much more
convincingly. At the same time, the fact that it was not yet there in the earlier version is
of great help for a true understanding of the fugues architectonic design.
The episodes make ample use of material from the subject.
-
The head of the subject occurs further in the coda where it is imitated through all
three voices (see bars 68-72: L, bars 72-76: M, bars 76-80: U). The first eight bars
are again accompanied by the sixteenth-note figures from subject ending and/or
counter-subject beginning.
In E2, the first segment contains a two-bar motive which is only in its beginning
rhythmically related to the subject head (see bars 29-31: U, sequenced in bars 3133); this is again accompanied by the string of thematic sixteenth-notes. The
second segment of this episode brings an imitation built exclusively on the
sixteenth-note pattern (see bars 33-37d: U, bars 34-39d: M).
E3 displays a lower voice which is even more closely related to the end of the
subject as it sequences the final bar (see bars 43-46: L).
Apart from the final bars of the coda, the only components of the episodes that are not
related to the primary material appear in the upper and middle voices of bars 43-47 and
61-67. They do, however, recall the other episodes insofar as they also contain an
imitative pattern in sequences.
The role each episode plays in the dynamic design of the fugue is easily determined in
accordance with the sequential patterns. E1 builds up tension through bars 13-19 but
then brings a slight release in bars 19-21. E2 keeps a very low profile in its constantly
falling lines. E3, on the contrary, ascends continuously in all three voices and thus
produces a considerable increase. E4, like E1, begins with rising lines and a crescendo
(bars 55-61) followed by a gradual descent (bars 61-65) and a cadential release - which
now, in its revised version as an interrupted cadence, expresses much more intensity
than did the earlier perfect cadence. The coda begins in a fairly leveled softer shade,
followed only in bars 80-83 (see the split voices) by a final strengthening.
The uniformity and simple relationship throughout both the primary and secondary
material adds to the playful character of the fugue. This character is further enhanced by
rhythmic continuity: before the final cadence, the sixteenth-note pulsation is almost
constant, with minimal interruptions only on four occasions (see immediately after the
downbeat in bars 11, 21, 22 and 41).
an eighth-note
in the prelude
in the fugue
The prominent ornament (now talking about those notated in symbols) is the inverted
mordent in the subject. Its pitch does not pose a problem as it always uses the natural
(white key) for its lower neighbor note. As is the case with all ornaments which form a
characteristic feature of a fugue subject, this inverted mordent must be played even
where the composer did not write it again (i.e. in bars 22 and 26). By contrast, the
episode motives deriving from the subject head need not be ornamented as Bach does
not indicate this in a single case. (The presence or absence of the ornament has the
further advantage that it tells listeners already after one bar whether what they are
hearing is going to be a subject entry or a subject-related motive - a distinction which,
due to the uniformity of material in this fugue, would otherwise not be so easy to make.)
Another ornament appears in two of the three statements of the counter-subject. In bar 8
it is printed as an inverted mordent, while bar 28 features a mordent symbol without the
slash. The first reading is slightly confusing in a typical closing-formula where the
experienced performer might have added a full trill even without any ornament symbol
from the composers hand. Thus the second reading appears more convincing and can
safely be chosen in both cases. As a leading-note trill approached stepwise it begins
with a sixteenth-note on the main note, followed by six thirty-second-notes including
the suffix, and resolving smoothly and without interruption on the following downbeat.
In bar 54 the closing-formula is varied and needs no ornament.
Finally, the long trill with a tie-suspension in bars 37/38 begins regularly, i.e. from the
upper note; it then shakes in thirty-second-notes until the very end of the bar where it
ties the last F over to the next downbeat. No suffix is possible in this case since the
ornamented note lacks a resolution.
(b) The overlapping subject statement in bars 21-25, while commencing in the
harmonic surroundings of G major, soon reveals its key as D minor (see the C#s
and Bbs from bar 22 onwards). This statement thus forms a pair with the following
upper-voice entry which, from its second bar onwards, is in A minor - the minor
dominant of the preceding statement. A closer look at the beginning of both
statements further strengthens this view as they display the interval structure of
subject + answer. (Compare bars 21/25 with bars 1/5.)
(c) If the subject entry in bars 25-29 was the first of a new section, then the episode
which follows would have to be regarded as linking two consecutive statements.
The long and definite tension decrease in E2, however, makes such an
interpretation very unlikely.
(d) The dynamic design of E1 is very much related to that of the original E4 (until bar
68): both describe a full curve, using similar material.
Having said all this, a conclusion for the remaining sections follows without problems.
The harmonically related entries in bars 21-25 and 25-29 constitute, together with the
decreasing E2, the second section. The return to C major and to three-part texture in bar
39 marks the beginning of the third section which encompasses three statements and a
closing episode (like the first section, the only difference being the inserted E3). The
exceptionally long coda must be regarded in the light of its relative in the Classical
period: it rounds off the entire piece, not just the final section.
For a sketch showing the design of the fugue in C major, see the following graph (ex.
13).