the fugue thread

I really enjoy fugue's the only modern fugue I know is in D Minor from Egg's debut. I'm looking for suggestions on modern Fugue's (and your favorite not so modern if you choose) along the same line as Egg's (or not)
So fire away with fugue suggestions praise or anything fugue related

Probably the greatest fugues of all time can be found in J.S. Bach's set of 48 preludes & fugues, a.k.a. THE WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER.

Believe it or not but Rick Wakeman turned me on to harpsichord, and if you like this instrument, there's a great bargain set of the 48 by Kenneth Gilbert on Deutsche Grammophon. If you prefer the piano, there's a set by the Canadian player Angela Hewitt on Hyperion.

Whichever performance you go for, you're probably going to love this astonishing music for the rest of your life!

In prog, Patrick Moraz plays a rather lovely Bachian minimoog solo on 'To Be Over' (RELAYER). There are also fugues on FOCUS III (by Focus) and on E.L.P.'s TRILOGY album.

I'm kind of a fugue freak myself. Here's an interesting link:
http://michaelpetiford.com/FugueForDrumset.html

A fugue is like a round, one part starts then another until 4 or 5 parts are being played simultaneously. Bach did fugue's on the organ starting with his hand then his other hand then his feet playing 4 parts simultaneously

Oh, sorry, a fugue is a musical form based on counterpoint, which is the climax of harmony, the vertical dimension of music (as melody is the horizontal): how two or more instruments can sound at the same time, there you have harmony, if each one plays different melodic lines but together they sound harmonic, that's counterpoint (explained in the least possible terms, only to get the point across). Fuge is a form that is ;like this (again, poorly explained): a melody is played by an instrument in a particular key; at any given point during that melody's discourse, usually when its exposition ends, another melody, very similar in essence (if it'sthe same is a CANON), starts, in another instrument and key, WHILE THE FIRST INSTRUMENT CONTINUES PLAYING ITS MELODIC LINE. And after that, many more voices (instruments) can enter the scene so you have 2, 3, 4 way poliphony. Bach, music greatest mastr of all time in all forms, made fugues for more than 5 voices. Check the Art of Fugue, where the closing one (incomplete due to the master blindness and death) is a fugue at 6 voices, and all of the melodic lines either inverted, augmented, etc.

cuncuna wrote: video vertigo wrote: A fugue is like a round, one part starts then another until 4 or 5 parts are being played simultaneously. Bach did fugue's on the organ starting with his hand then his other hand then his feet playing 4 parts simultaneously Ok. 4 parts. Hand #1 can handle a full melody. Hand #2 can also handle a full melody. Feet, I gues they can both handle a melody... so... I have read that Bach was a gifted musician. Melody #4 and your descriptioin has suddenly given a new meaning to this.

    the organ as he played it is a complicated instrument, I've seen videos of a man playing fugues by bach and every finger is used constantly. Its difficult to describe you should watch several can be found on youtube here's one:

    a good fugue video
this video also explains what a fugue is while it is played.
    

Edited by video vertigo - November 01 2006 at 00:53

The T wrote: In rock, well, fugues just don;t work.

Actually there is no reason why a fugue would not work in rock. Listen to the intricate counterpoint by Gentle Giant in a song like "Knots", or the Spock's Beard song "Gibberish". While these are not fugues it is apparent that a fugal structure could work beautifully as a rock song. Heck, it works in pop. The opening number in the pop musical Guys And Dolls is a simple three part fugue and it works beautifully (it's called "Fugue For Tinhorns").
    
    

Edited by Someo Therguy - November 01 2006 at 10:52

I agree Mr. T, if you want to know fugue there is no better source than J.S. Bach.


Bach and others did wonderfull things with fugues on the organ and other keyboard instruments, but the technique works just as well for any polyphonic intrument or polyphinic setting. For instance there are wonderfull choral fugal passages in Handel's Messiah, as well as Hayden's string quartets (Op, 20 movement IV is a fugue). Don't forget Beethoven's  Grosse Fugue, Op. 133, a 16 minute fugue for string quartet. Beethoven's Fifth is a double fugue for orchestra. I also have Bach's Art of Fugue arranged for small chamber ensembles by the Amsterdam Bach Soloists. One really cool version of Bach's Tocata and Fugue in D minor was recorded by the Chapman Stick player Bob Culbertson, it's on his CD Acoustick Dawn. Also, if you follow the link in my earlier post in this thread you can see how it can work on a drumet!

Yes, the term fugue comes from the Latin fuga which means to flee. Keep in mind that the basis for the fugue is actually the concept known as canonic imitaion. Canon is latin for rule, or law. The simplest form of canonic imitation is a round, like row-row-row your boat.  fugues start out like a round but then the individual voices seperate and start applying variations to the original musical theme. For this reason it's sometimes thought of like a musical conversation rather than a chase.

What you hear in Spock's Beard and other rock bands is usually canonic imitation or just counterpoint. Technically,  you need more than a few  measure to  qualify  as a fugue.  You have to have an Exposition, with two or more voices entering sequentially, followed by a Development, where variations and other elements are explored. Fun stuff.

lucas wrote: The T wrote: In rock, well, fugues just don;t work.    Well, have tou heard "suite fugue" the Kevin Gilbert tribute to GG on his masterpiece 'the shaming of the true' ?

Last night I listened to Gentle Giant's FREE HAND for the first time in a long while, and I suddenly heard the fugue-to-end-all-fugues, at least as far as prog is concerned: it's the second track on the album, entitled 'On Reflection', and it's both vocal and instrumental. For more details, see the review of the album that I just put up.