The fugato: fugue technique inside other forms, from the Classical era to the musical

Definition

The fugato is a passage in fugal style within a composition that is not a fugue: an exposition (subject, answer, other entries) usually followed by a free development. The fughetta, by contrast, is a short, complete fugue. The fugato takes from the fugue the principle of accumulation through successive entries, without the obligation of the whole formal path.

Where it is found

• Sonata-form developments: a theme is treated as a fugato to create tension (many developments by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven).
• Finales: Haydn writes three fugal finales in the quartets op. 20 (1772); Mozart closes the Jupiter Symphony with a coda in which five themes combine in invertible counterpoint.
• Slow movements: the Allegretto of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony contains a fugato on the main theme; in the Funeral March of the Eroica a fugato leads to the culminating point.
• Variations: fughettas within variation cycles (variation 24 of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations).
• Musicals: Fugue for Tinhorns from Guys and Dolls (Loesser) is a three-voice canon-fugato; Cool from West Side Story (Bernstein) contains a jazz-style instrumental fugue.
• Twentieth century: Shostakovich (24 Preludes and Fugues op. 87), Hindemith (Ludus tonalis), Bartók (first movement of Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, a fugue with entries at the fifth).

How to write a fugato

1. Short subject (one or two bars), with a strong rhythmic head.
2. Answer at the dominant or the lower fifth (real or tonal, depending on the subject).
3. Order of entries planned for the orchestration: from low to high for a crescendo, from high to low for an effect of grounding.
4. Free counterpoint in the voices that have already made their entry; a recognizable countersubject helps the listener.
5. Exit: after the last entry, a sequence, a stretto or a homorhythmic tutti that leads back to the main form.

Example of a design (C minor, strings)

• Bars 1–2: cellos and double basses, subject in C minor.
• Bars 3–4: violas, answer in G minor; the cellos move to the countersubject.
• Bars 5–6: second violins, subject in C minor; violas on the countersubject.
• Bars 7–8: first violins, answer; all voices active.
• Bars 9–12: stretto of the head between first violins and cellos, then chords for full orchestra.

Typical mistakes

• Long subject: the fugato becomes a fugue without having the space for it.
• Entries in the same register: the audience does not hear the new voices.
• No exit: the fugato fizzles out without reconnecting to the rest of the piece.
• Flat orchestration: all the entries at the same dynamic and with the same timbre.

Modern application

• Film scores: the fugato is a classic for chase, investigation or build-up scenes (successive entries = elements being added); the dominant pedal under the final stretto prepares the climax.
• Pop and progressive rock: an intro or bridge in fugato between guitar, bass and keyboards, followed by the entry of the drums, gives an effect of surprise.
• Choirs: a choral fugato on a single word or short phrase (Amen, Alleluia, a song title) is easy to learn and very effective.
• Electronic production: building a build-up through successive entries of the same phrase in different registers is a fugato with synth sounds.

Related topics

Exposition of the fugue, stretto, sonata form, cinematic and epic choir, analysis of Handel's fugues, canon.