Data
- First fugue of the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier (collection dated 1722).
- Four voices, 27 bars, 4/4 meter.
- One of Bach's densest fugues: the subject is present almost without interruption and the writing is dominated by strettos; there are no true episodes.
The subject
It begins in the alto after an eighth rest, rises by step from C to F, descends, then proceeds with a pattern of leaps and a group of sixteenth notes until it closes on E in the second bar: C D E F – G F E – A D G – A G F E. It is about a bar and a half long, diatonic, with a profile that rises, falls and rises again.
- Head: the scale C D E F, very easy to recognize even in stretto.
- Tail: the sixteenth-note figure, which supplies linking material.
The exposition
- Alto: subject in C.
- Soprano: real answer in G (G A B C…), because the subject does not emphasize the dominant in the first notes.
- Tenor and bass complete the exposition. The order is subject, answer, answer, subject: an exception to the usual alternation.
- There is no regular countersubject: the free voices accompany with variable counterpoint.
The middle section
- The subject re-enters in almost every bar, often in stretto at different distances (half a bar, a quarter) and at different intervals.
- The entries move to the dominant (with a passage in G minor before arriving at G major) and to other closely related keys, always without linking episodes.
- In bars 14–15 four entries follow one another in a four-voice canon: it is the point of maximum density.
The conclusion
- The last entries return to the tonic.
- The fugue closes with four bars built over the tonic, with the bass fixed on C (tonic pedal), and with a last allusion to the subject in the upper voices.
What it teaches
- A fugue can do without episodes: variety comes from the strettos and the keys.
- The subject is designed for stretto: stepwise, with simple harmony, combinable with itself at many distances.
- The real answer is the natural choice for a subject that starts on the tonic and moves by step.
- The density grows up to the four-voice canon, then dissolves on the pedal.
How to study it
- Mark in the score every entry of the subject (head highlighted) and the voice that sings it.
- For each stretto note the distance and the interval between the voices.
- Write the tonal map: in which bars the subject is in C, G, A minor, D minor.
- Play the voices in pairs to hear the combinations.
Typical mistakes in analysis
- Looking for episodes that are not there.
- Counting only the heads as entries: in a stretto fugue it is useful to distinguish complete and incomplete entries.
- Confusing the final pedal with a simple long bass note: above the pedal the harmony changes.
Modern application
- Production: a simple stepwise motif can be layered over itself at different distances (a quarter, half a bar), creating growing density, as in the strettos of this fugue; it is a useful technique in builds in electronic music and minimalism.
- Film scores: the four-voice canon as a culminating point, followed by a tonic pedal, is a model of climax and resolution.
- Choirs: a stepwise subject like this one is ideal for a choral fugato even with non-professional singers.
Related topics
Fugue: formal plan, stretto, pedal and coda, tonal answer and mutation, The Well-Tempered Clavier: overview of the fugues, prelude.