Pedal and coda in the fugue

The pedal in the fugue

The pedal (pedal point) is a note held for a long time, usually in the bass, while the other voices keep moving and harmonize freely above it. In the fugue it has two typical positions:

• Dominant pedal: before the final return to the tonic; it prolongs the tension and prepares the last entry or the concluding stretto.
• Tonic pedal: in the coda, under the last entries or the cadential formulas; it confirms the key.

The name itself carries the organ origin: the organ pedal can hold a note while the hands play the upper voices.

Rules for writing above a pedal

1. The pedal begins and ends as a consonance with the harmony (at the beginning and at the end the chord must contain the held note).
2. In the middle the upper harmonies may be dissonant against the pedal: the held note does not count as the real bass, and the harmonic bass becomes the voice above the pedal.
3. The upper voices must be correct among themselves as if the pedal were not there.
4. Typical length: two to eight bars. The longer it is, the more animated the writing above it must be.
5. The pedal can also be inner or upper (a held note in a high voice), or double (tonic and dominant together).

Example in C major

Dominant pedal G2 for four bars. Above it:

• Bar 1: G – B – D (V), a chord consonant with the pedal.
• Bar 2: C/G (I 6/4) and F/G (IV over G): dissonance with the pedal, accepted.
• Bar 3: Dm7/G – G7.
• Bar 4: full G7; resolution to C in the next bar with the bass moving from G to C.

Meanwhile an upper voice can present the head of the subject in stretto.

The coda

The coda is everything that follows the last complete entry of the subject. Functions:

• A clear concluding cadence, often with a tonic pedal.
• A final recall of the head of the subject, sometimes in longer values or harmonized in blocks.
• Broadening: the voices multiply (full chords) or an extra voice is added.
• Picardy third in minor-key fugues: the final chord is major.

Examples in the repertoire

• The Well-Tempered Clavier I, Fugue in C major BWV 846: the fugue closes with a four-bar section built over the tonic, with the bass fixed on C.
• Fugue in C minor BWV 847: it ends with a Picardy third, like the prelude.
• Fugue in C# minor BWV 849: a strong dissonance on the downbeat of bar 112, four bars before the end, then the concluding resolution.
• Handel's choral fugues: the coda is often homorhythmic, with a slowing down and measured chords before the cadence (He trusted in God, Messiah).

Typical mistakes

• A pedal that begins on a dissonant chord: the held note is not heard as a pedal but as a mistake.
• Upper voices that hardly move: the pedal becomes static.
• A coda that is too long, with new ideas: it seems like another composition.
• Forgetting the preparation of the last entry: without a pedal or a deceptive cadence, the last entry goes unnoticed.

Modern application

• Electronic production: the held bass note (or a synth drone) under a build is a dominant pedal; the resolution on the drop is the tonic.
• Film scores: the dominant pedal in the basses and timpani, with strings rising in sequence above, is the classic way to prepare the climax.
• Pop and rock: an ending on a tonic pedal with changing chords above (C, F/C, G/C, C) is a typical coda of many ballads.
• Choirs: giving the pedal to the basses on a vowel (or on a repeated word) frees the other sections for the finale.

Related topics

Pedal and ostinato, fugue: stretto, pedal and devices, school fugue, formal plan of the fugue, cadences.