A procedure, not a mold
Unlike sonata form, the fugue has no fixed number of sections. It does, however, have a typical path that almost all tonal fugues follow, and a trained listener recognizes it: exposition → development through entries and episodes in closely related keys → return to the tonic with intensification (stretto, pedal) → coda. Many textbooks describe it in three parts, reminiscent of exposition–development–recapitulation.
The three parts
| Part | What happens | Key |
|---|---|---|
| Exposition | all the voices enter with subject or answer; the countersubject and codettas appear | I and V |
| Middle section | entries of the subject in other keys separated by modulating episodes; possible inversions, partial stretti, counter-expositions | vi, IV, ii, iii (in major); III, iv, v, VI, VII (in minor) |
| Final section | return to the tonic, dominant pedal, stretto, last prominent entry, tonic pedal, cadence | I |
Types of fugue
- Simple fugue: one subject (BWV 846 in C major).
- Double fugue: two subjects, presented together from the beginning or separately and then combined.
- Triple fugue: three subjects (Fugue in C# minor BWV 849, in five voices; Contrapunctus 14 of the Art of Fugue, unfinished).
- Fughetta: short fugue, often with minimal development.
- Fugato: a fugal passage within another type of piece (development of a symphony, section of an overture, finale of a quartet). Example: the development of the finale of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony; the fugato in the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
- Fugue for voices and orchestra: the great final choruses of masses and oratorios (the "Amen" of Handel's Messiah, the "Cum Sancto Spiritu" of Bach's Mass in B minor).
- 20th-century fugues: Shostakovich, 24 Preludes and Fugues op. 87 (1950–51); Hindemith, Ludus tonalis (1942); Bartók, first movement of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936), with entries at successive fifths in both directions around the circle.
How to analyze a fugue, step by step
- Listen and count the voices: scan the whole score and find the bar where the most voices sound.
- Isolate the subject: from the first note to the point where the next voice enters (or to the first implied cadence). Mark it in red.
- Classify the answer: real or tonal? Find the modified notes.
- Find the countersubject: the line the first voice plays against the answer; check whether it returns in the following entries (fixed) or not (free). Mark it in blue.
- Map all the entries: for each one note the bar, voice, key and any transformations (inversion, augmentation, stretto).
- Label the episodes: where the material comes from (head of the subject? tail of the countersubject?), which sequence they use, from which key to which.
- Find the points of articulation: cadences, pedals, rests, changes of texture.
- Summarize in a table: bars, section, key, content. This gives you the real form of the piece.
Example of a map (The Well-Tempered Clavier I, Fugue in C minor BWV 847, 3 voices, 31 bars)
- mm. 1–2 subject in the alto; m. 3 (tonal) answer in the soprano with the first countersubject in the alto; mm. 5–6 episode-codetta; m. 7 subject in the bass with two countersubjects above: from here on, subject and two countersubjects appear in different arrangements (triple counterpoint).
- Middle section with entries in the relative major (Eb) and in G minor, alternating with episodes based on fragments of the subject and on sequences.
- Final section: return to C minor, last entry in the soprano over a tonic pedal, ending on C major (Picardy third).
The exact bars of the individual middle entries should be checked against the score (IMSLP) while you listen: that is precisely the exercise.
Why it matters to a producer
The fugue is the purest example of arranging by subtraction and addition: tension grows because the number of active voices grows, then drops in the episodes (fewer voices, fragmented material) and climbs again up to the stretto. It is the same energy arc as an electronic track with build, breakdown and final drop.
Related topics
Fugue: subject and answer, Fugue: countersubject and episodes, Fugue: stretto, pedal and devices, Motivic analysis, Invertible counterpoint.