Definition
The school fugue (in French fugue d'école) is a teaching model codified in the nineteenth-century conservatories, starting with Cherubini and the Paris school, and then systematized by Gedalge and Dubois in the early twentieth century. It does not describe Bach's fugues, which are much freer, but fixes a complete path that obliges the student to use all the techniques: tonal answer, countersubject in double counterpoint, counter-exposition, modulating episodes, strettos, pedal. In Italian conservatories the four-voice fugue on a given subject was for a long time an exam test in composition.
The scheme
| Section | Content | Key |
|---|---|---|
| Exposition | S – A – S – A, with regular countersubject; short codettas | tonic and dominant |
| Episode 1 | sequence on fragments, usually non-modulating or with a return to the tonic | tonic |
| Counter-exposition | two entries in reversed order (A – S), voices exchanged | tonic and dominant |
| Episode 2 | modulating | toward the relative |
| Entries in closely related keys | subject or answer in the relative, then in the subdominant and its relative, with countersubject | relative, IV, ii |
| Episode 3 | modulating, prepares the return | toward the dominant |
| Strettos | two to four strettos, each tighter than the last, the final one the densest (grand stretto if possible) | tonic |
| Dominant pedal | often under a stretto | dominant |
| Tonic pedal and coda | last fragmentary entries, cadence | tonic |
In major the middle entries usually go to the relative minor and the subdominant; in minor to the relative major and the minor subdominant, with the relative of the subdominant.
Rules of the school fugue
- Given subject: the student receives the subject and must find the answer, countersubject and strettos.
- Tonal answer is mandatory when the subject emphasizes the dominant.
- Countersubject in double counterpoint at the octave, sometimes a second countersubject for the third entry.
- Episodes built only on material from the subject or the countersubject.
- Strettos checked in advance: a table is prepared of all the possible distances and intervals.
- Vocal writing: the ranges of the four voices respected, singable lines, no doubling of the leading tone.
- Proportions: exposition and strettos take up a large part of the fugue; the episodes are short.
Recommended working procedure
- Analyze the subject: implied harmony, point of mutation, possible strettos.
- Write the answer and countersubject; check the double counterpoint.
- Prepare the table of strettos (interval, distance, voices involved).
- Decide the tonal plan and the length of the sections.
- Write the exposition and counter-exposition.
- Write the middle entries and episodes.
- Write the final part (strettos, pedal, coda), starting from the tightest stretto.
Typical mistakes
- Episodes with new material.
- Strettos that are too similar to each other, with no growth.
- A pedal that lasts too long or does not close with a chord that contains the held note.
- Middle entries in distant keys: the school fugue stays in closely related keys.
School fugue and real fugue
Bach's fugue is a flexible procedure: expositions without counter-exposition, fugues without episodes (BWV 846), fugues without strettos, entries in distant keys. The school fugue is a gym: it serves to learn all the techniques in a predictable order, just as the species serve to learn counterpoint.
Modern application
- Film scores: the scheme exposition – modulating development – strettos – pedal – coda is a ready-made dramatic structure for a scene of rising tension.
- Orchestral pop and musicals: a fugato with an exposition and a final stretto is a showpiece effect in a choral number (examples in Broadway musicals).
- Personal study: writing at least one complete school fugue is the most formative composition exercise; all the other forms become easier.
Related topics
Fugue: formal plan, exposition, counter-exposition, episodes, stretto, pedal and coda, history of fugue theory.