# Fugue No. 1 in C minor after Bach



## MJTTOMB

I've tried my hand at fugal writing before, only to fall flat on my face. This is my first even moderately successful attempt at a fugue, and I'd very much like to hear what you all think.

I'll go ahead and attach the .pdf of the sheet music for anyone who wants to study it away from youtube, or try their hand at playing it. A few notes on playing it: The middle voice will inevitably have to go to the left hand at some points. There are going to be places where you'll have to reach a 10th, and I'm quite aware of this. If you can't reach a tenth, play the middle voice as though it were a grace note, the bass and soprano voices should remain fairly legato. In measure 22, the left hand needs to come up to play the G in the treble clef.
If you use the damper pedal too much I will personally raise Bach from the dead, and we will both bludgeon you with the original manuscript of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Both books.

That being said, please do let me know what you think!


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## hlolli

I find the rythm to be very stiff. Bach was very conscious of diverse rythm. There should be a place where there is always a note on 16th part. When I think there is rythmic climax there always pops in a 8th note and stops the flow, point is where you want to rest the flow it should be more vivid. You should also try more ornaments than mordant or trill.

This is probably all correct counterpuntically witch is the hardest part of writing a fugue. But one place bothers me slightly. In bar 6 you did full(perfect?) cadence on c minor but out of the blue you have interval of fifth in the bass g-c. It is non imitative interval and you don't need this. You repeat the theme 1 in bar 7 in c minor. And the interval of 9th g-f in the bass bars 5-6 should be solved. It doesn't bother me but it may bother your teacher.

But the fugue is extremly hard art and I give you thumbs up for this piece. I may not do it any better!


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## howlingmadhowie

It would probably be best to try a more traditional approach to voice entry. the bass entering in the double dominant is to the best of my knowledge unknown in the works of bach. How long is the subject? I would have thought that the first bar plus the following g quaver were the subject.

In general there are too many notes which make me jump. for example, you seem quite unsure if you should write the submedient major or minor. there are also large amounts of parallel octaves which weaken the harmony.

Good luck


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## MJTTOMB

howlingmadhowie said:


> It would probably be best to try a more traditional approach to voice entry. the bass entering in the double dominant is to the best of my knowledge unknown in the works of bach. How long is the subject? I would have thought that the first bar plus the following g quaver were the subject.
> 
> In general there are too many notes which make me jump. for example, you seem quite unsure if you should write the submedient major or minor. there are also large amounts of parallel octaves which weaken the harmony.
> 
> Good luck


I agree with everything except for the presence of parallel octaves. I proofread this time and again looking, and I only found one occurrence of parallel octaves. If you can, can you let me know the bar numbers, and in which voices the octaves occur? Thanks!


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## emiellucifuge

Im not going to patronise you and check through the score for any "mistakes or discrepancies" (if there are any). However, i agree with above posters that the rhythm was dull and did not have the forward drive that many of Bachs fugues do. Also, look at the scores of many of his fugues (especially those contained within the art of fugue) and notice that many of the subjects start with a wide interval/upward leap (maybe a 5th or 4th).


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## howlingmadhowie

MJTTOMB said:


> I agree with everything except for the presence of parallel octaves. I proofread this time and again looking, and I only found one occurrence of parallel octaves. If you can, can you let me know the bar numbers, and in which voices the octaves occur? Thanks!


a few examples:

end of bar 4 between bass and treble (obscured).
end of bar 8 between bass and treble.
beginning of bar 9, again bass and treble.
middle of bar 9 between bass and alto (obscured).
end of bar 12 between bass and alto (beats 3 to 4)
bar 14, beat 3. bass and alto.
bar 23, beats 3 and 4 between bass and alto.


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## MJTTOMB

Many thanks. I'm surprised I missed those.


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