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fugue

By Aron Bernstein 6 Comments

Weekly Music Challenge: 6/6/22

Test your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This Week’s Challenge:

This is the beginning of Contrapunctus V from J.S. Bach’s Die Kunst der Fugue (The Art of Fugue). As opposed to a more conventional fugue, this one has an unusual answer…why?

Contrapunctus V, Die Kunst der Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach
Listen to Audio

Post your reply and come back Friday, June 10th for the answer!

ANSWER for 6/6/22

While a typical fugal answer is more or less a literal restatement of the subject, this answer is the inversion of the subject. It also remains in the tonic key, a further departure from conventional practice; fugal answers usually bring the music into the key of the dominant. It isn’t until later in this fugue that Bach employs a more typical answer–a tonal answer in the key of v….but still inverted!

Learn More Here!

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, encouraging video lessons grounded in real music! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 3 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 11/15/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Here’s the start of a fugue I wrote in my undergraduate years. Is the answer real or tonal?

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, November 19th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 11/15/21

This is a TONAL answer to our fugue subject.

A real answer is identical to the fugue subject, note for note, merely transposed to the key of V.  But a tonal answer is slightly altered so that its first few notes sound like we’re still in the key of I.  The DO–SO leap in the subject (A to E) is reversed to SO–DO in the answer.  This makes the transition from subject to answer smoother and less jarring.  Tonal answers typically follow fugue subjects that have this explicit leap (DO to SO, or vice versa).

Composers deemed this necessary because the fugue was a musical form that appeared before the rules of common-practice harmony had fully cemented.  If you want to modulate from the tonic key to the dominant (I to V), the common-practice method is to use an applied dominant.  In this case, you’d write a II7 chord (V of V) and tonicize the new key.  But in a fugue, we don’t do this.  We have the subject in the key of I, and then BAM––we have the answer in the key of V.  So the tonal answer was a kind of workaround, smoothing over the key change.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 8 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 10/11/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Below is one of Beethoven’s last and greatest utterances: the opening fugue from his C-sharp Minor String Quartet, Op. 131. The subject melody is in blue, and the answer is in red. What’s unorthodox about this fugue’s answer?

Listen to Audio: Beethoven, String Quartet No. 14 in C# minor, Op. 131

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, October 15 to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 10/11/21

This fugue’s answer is in the key of IV, the subdominant. It’s in F-sharp minor. The more standard key for an answer would be V, the dominant (G-sharp minor in this case). But by having the answer in the subdominant, Beethoven avoids a more typical emphasis on the V–I relationship. J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor is an even more famous example of an answer in IV instead of V.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 6 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 9/13/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is from J. S. Bach’s Contrapunctus VII from Die kunst der fuge (The Art of Fugue). What rhythmic technique has he used in changing the melody in the top staff to the one in the bottom?

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, September 17th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 9/13/21

This is a good example of diminution. All the note values on the top staff have been cut in half, resulting in the same melody on the bottom staff, but twice as fast. Bach’s ingenuity lies in fashioning a melody that works in counterpoint with a diminished version of itself. He never actually finished Contrapunctus, but the many fugues of this work show him at the pinnacle of his contrapuntal genius.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, useful, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 2 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 4/26/21

Show off your music theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question posted here every Monday, and you can comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Here’s the beginning of a fugue in A major. Is the answer real or tonal?

Weekly Challenge Audio

Check back on Friday, April 30 for the answer (literally)!

ANSWER for 4/26/21

This is a TONAL answer to our fugue subject.

A real answer is identical to the fugue subject, note for note, merely transposed to the key of V.  But a tonal answer is slightly altered so that its first few notes sound like we’re still in the key of I.  The DO–SO leap in the subject (A to E) is reversed to SO–DO in the answer.  This makes the transition from subject to answer smoother and less jarring.  Tonal answers typically follow fugue subjects that have this explicit leap (DO to SO, or vice versa).

Composers deemed this necessary because the fugue was a musical form that appeared before the rules of common-practice harmony had fully cemented.  If you want to modulate from the tonic key to the dominant (I to V), the common-practice method is to use an applied dominant.  In this case, you’d write a II7 chord (V of V) and tonicize the new key.  But in a fugue, we don’t do this.  We have the subject in the key of I, and then BAM––we have the answer in the key of V.  So the tonal answer was a kind of workaround, smoothing over the key change.

Want to Learn More?

I’m about to finish the next video in the Counterpoint Module!  Sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. Find out how to weave melodies together like magic threads, and stay tuned for future lessons on fugues.