Introduction

The English term fugue originating in the sixteenth century is derived from the French word fugue or the Italian fuga. This in turn comes from Latin, also fuga, which is itself related to both fugere (“to flee”) and fugare (“to chase”). A  fugato  is a passage in fugal style within another work that is not a fugue such as overture or sonata.

The fugue  became a challenge for composers to  demonstrate  their compositional expertise.   Composers incorporated fugues into a variety of musical forms. George Frideric Handel included them in his oratorios.  Keyboard suites from this period often conclude with a fugal gigue.  (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=french+overture&* )

The first page of the manuscript of the “Ricercar a 6” BWV 1079 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

A fugue is in  three parts: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation –  though not all fugues have a recapitulation.  The exposition contains the statement of the subject in all voices. It ends when all voices have stated the subject. The development follows. It  contains episodes which contain  no subject material alternating  with brief  statements of the subject. This is a freer section than the exposition.  The important component of the fugue is the subject. In most fugues  subjects are short themes.  As describe above  the subject occurs successively in each voice in the exposition.  The  subject is repeated  in each voice part in succession.  The exposition ends once the subject has occurred in all voices.  The development follows – consisting  of episodes containing  no subject material and  brief statements of the subject. The episodes represent  a connecting passage, developed from previously heard material but without statement of the subject. Entries  of the subject are heard in alternation related keys in the development. The “final entry” of the subject, by which point the music has returned to the opening key, or tonic is often followed by closing material, the coda. In this sense, a fugue is a style of composition, rather than a fixed structure.

In the Middle Ages, the fugue included  any works in canonic style – a melodic constantly repeated  in imitation throughout  the work. By the Renaissance, it had come to denote specifically imitative works. Since the seventeenth century, has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint described above. Thus, fugal writing became a complex form of counterpoint in the Baroque.  As many pieces were composed as stand-alone fugues It could also be considered a genre.   The most important thing to remember is that with the fugue the subject is the main melodic idea and it is imitated throughout the composition.

Exposition

The table below illustrates the structure of the fugue exposition:

Read “Forms: Contrapuntal Composition Techniques: After the Exposition” here.Listen: Fugue: Episodes, Development

LISTEN: FUGUE: EPISODES, DEVELOPMENT

J.S. Bach ‘Gigue’ Fugue G-Major BWV 577, Matthias Havinga, Organ

 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/vccs-tcc-mus121-1/wp-admin/post.php?post=330&action=edit

Even though fugues were being composed throughout the Baroque, Bach is considered to have no equal in the composition of fugues, so this page is included in this section with him, rather than in the Instrumental Music in the Baroque section.
J.S.Bach, “Gigue” Fugue G-Major BWV 577, Matthias Havinga, organ. www.matthiashavinga.com

Baroque Era
Bach’s most famous fugues are those for the harpsichord in The Well-Tempered Clavier, which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue. The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two volumes written in different times of Bach’s life, each comprising 24 prelude and fugue pairs, one for each major and minor key. Bach is also known for his organ fugues, which are usually preceded by a prelude or toccata. The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, is a collection of fugues (and four canons) on a single theme that is gradually transformed as the cycle progresses. Bach also wrote smaller single fugues, and put fugal sections or movements into many of his more general works.

View these electronic recording renditions of two of  Bach’s  Fugues and view  with the animation of the individual voices.

J. S. Bach’s influence extended forward through his son C.P.E. Bach and through the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795) whoseAbhandlung von der Fuge (“Treatise on the fugue,” 1753) was largely based on J. S. Bach’s work.