The stretto
The stretto is the overlapping of entries of the subject: one voice begins the theme before the other has finished it. It is the most powerful way to increase tension toward the end of a fugue, because thematic density grows without new material.
- Distance of entry: the stretto can be at one bar, at half a bar, even at one beat.
- Interval: at the octave, at the fifth, at the fourth, at other intervals.
- Stretto maestrale: all the voices enter in stretto and complete the subject in full.
- A subject suited to stretto has to be designed: before writing the fugue you try the combinations of the theme with itself at different distances, as you do with a canon.
- Example: the Fugue in C major BWV 846 (The Well-Tempered Clavier I) is built almost entirely on stretti at different distances; the Fugue in D# minor BWV 853 presents stretti even with the subject in inversion and in augmentation.
The pedal point
The pedal point is a held (or repeated) note in the bass while above it the voices move, even with harmonies that do not contain it.
- Dominant pedal: before the last entry or the coda, it creates anticipation; above it you can have entries, stretti, chromatic sequences.
- Tonic pedal: at the end, after the last cadence: the piece "settles" while the upper voices make one last echo of the subject. The Fugue in C minor BWV 847 ends on a tonic pedal and with the Picardy third (final C major chord).
- In organ fugues the pedal point is often literally given to the pedalboard.
Devices on the subject
| Device | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Inversion (per motum contrarium) | every interval changes direction | Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus 5–7 |
| Augmentation | doubled values | Contrapunctus 7 "per augmentationem et diminutionem" |
| Diminution | halved values | Contrapunctus 6 "in stylo francese" |
| Retrograde | from the last note to the first | rare in the tonal fugue, common in canons |
| Mirror fugue | the whole piece is also written upside down | Contrapunctus 12 and 13 |
| Double/triple fugue | two or three subjects presented separately and then combined | Contrapunctus 14 (unfinished, third subject B–A–C–H) |
The end of the fugue
The last bars often combine several elements: dominant pedal → stretto → cadence → tonic pedal, sometimes with the last entry of the subject in the soprano or the bass for maximum prominence. It is the Baroque equivalent of the last chorus with all voices and instruments.
Practical example (C major)
Subject of 2 bars: C–D–E–F–G (quarter notes) | A–G–F–E (eighth notes) D–C.
- Try the stretto at the fifth at a distance of one bar: the second voice enters with G–A–B–C–D while the first plays A–G–F–E–D–C. Check the vertical intervals: they must be consonances on strong beats or treated dissonances.
- If it works, reserve it for the final part.
- Write 4 bars of G pedal in the bass with the subject in the soprano and a chromatic counterpoint in the alto (G–F#–F–E), then a V–I cadence and 2 bars of C pedal.
The principle applied to production
- A riser over a held bass note before the drop is a dominant pedal.
- The overlapping of the vocal hook with its delayed version (delay at 1/2 bar) or with the same hook played by a synth entering before the end is a stretto.
- In the endings of orchestral pieces and trailers, the main theme and the theme in augmentation are superimposed in the brass: the same procedure as in the Art of Fugue.
Related topics
Fugue: subject and answer, Fugue: countersubject and episodes, Pedal point and ostinato, Canon and imitation, Fugue: formal plan.