# What is Mozart's most economical fugue?



## Wolfgangus the Great (Jan 4, 2022)

The title once again speaks for itself. I'm asking what is Mozart's most economical fugue.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

How many fugues did Mozart write and actually complete? It's kind of like asking: What was Bach's most economical use of Sonata Form.


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## Wolfgangus the Great (Jan 4, 2022)

vtpoet said:


> How many fugues did Mozart write and actually complete? It's kind of like asking: What was Bach's most economical use of Sonata Form.


??? I'm not talking about just a standalone fugue. There are tons of fugues in his music, such as his sacred works.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Wolfgangus the Great said:


> ??? I'm not talking about just a standalone fugue. There are tons of fugues in his music, such as his sacred works.


Okay. You asked about "Fugues". If you're throwing in fugal passages, then fair enough. That said, what do you even _mean_ by an "economical" fugue or fugal passage?


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

What do you mean by an "economical fugue"? Are double or triple fugues not "economical" because of the multiple number of subjects?


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## Wolfgangus the Great (Jan 4, 2022)

Sorry, I didn't clear it out. 

I meant which Mozart fugue is the most complex and has the best subject manipulation, akin to the fugues of J.S Bach and Beethoven.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Wolfgangus the Great said:


> Sorry, I didn't clear it out.
> 
> I meant which Mozart fugue is the most complex and has the best subject manipulation, akin to the fugues of J.S Bach and Beethoven.


I suppose, if you're going to include "fugal" works, then that would probably be the finale to Mozart's Jupiter symphony. That was all about showing off. The fugal passages of Mozart's liturgical works tend to be more straitlaced, to sublimate themselves to the occasion whereas the finale of the 41st is definitely the star of the show.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

"... Even the progression of events in K. 426 has a kind of relentless logic to it, as if Mozart was going down an elaborate checklist (something akin to my Table 3.2) as he composed this fugue, with the intention of utilizing his subject in every conceivable combination with itself."
[ Engaging Bach: The Keyboard Legacy from Marpurg to Mendelssohn / Matthew Dirst, Matthew Charles Dirst / P. 78, 80 ]


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## Wolfgangus the Great (Jan 4, 2022)

Thank you both!


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Mozart’s fugues clearly show a progression from basic choral fugues built upon the common Austrian-German traditions of his time to more personal, skilled, and daring compositions written after much study and exposure as an adult to the fugues of Bach. Mozart's “Kyrie” from the Requiem, K. 626, the material of which comes from the closing chorus of Handel's Dettingen Anthem, is a double fugue which reveals Mozart at the height of his fugal prowess. It evinces a drive, urgency, tautness of construction, and flexibility of construction worthy of Bach himself.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

RICK RIEKERT said:


> Mozart's fugues clearly show a progression from basic choral fugues built upon the common Austrian-German traditions of his time. Mozart's "Kyrie" from the Requiem, K. 626, the material of which comes from the closing chorus of Handel's Dettingen Anthem, is a double fugue which reveals Mozart at the height of his fugal prowess.


I think a subject like the Handel was more commonplace at the time than you might think (eg. Bach's A minor from WTC book 2). I actually find Handel to be a bit underwhelming harmonically compared to "the basic choral fugues built upon the common Austrian-German traditions of his time" (or whatever you mean by it). 







and I think K.426 derives more from 



 than Handel. (I still think Mozart admired Handel's vocal writing, like he did Eberlin's)


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

The fugues in k 608


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Or better maybe, K 426. For those who like the music, K551/iv is the obvious answer I guess.


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