# Non Bachian (Bach) Fugues



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I always love finding modern, or even non modern composers that write fugues, they're among my favorite forms of music, however, most people (it's totally understandable why) seem to copy the Bachian (Bach) style of fugue, very rarely do I come across someone doing a fugue in someone's own style so I thought I'd put the call out for fugues that were not in Bach's style. Not that I don't like Bach's fugues, I'm looking to see the other ways of attacking the style.


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## Bridge (Aug 16, 2015)




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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Jaromir Weinberger Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper. This recording includes the chorus that is always missing from concert performances and other recordings. It also does not include the famous Polka which is usually pared with the Fugue. It does have the music which is used to change the scene right after the fugue. The Fugue and Polka and the whole opera are usually sniffed at for being to "common" or popular. However, Weinberger has a strong sense for counterpoint and the Fugue is very well written.





Dimitri Shostakovich wrote a full set of preludes and fugues for each of the major and minor keys. This Shostakovich playing the number 24 prelude and fugue. It is interesting to note that these pieces almost did not get the approval of the Soviet musical authorities for public performances as they were deemed too intellectual and perhaps counter revolutionary.





Ludwig van Beethoven "Grosse Fuge" was written as the finale for his string quartet #13 in Bb Major but the publisher had him write a new finale as he didn't think it would sell with the fugue as it's finale. The fugue was published as a separate work to universal derision. It has since become seen as one of his greatest, and most difficult to play, works for the string quartet.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Roy Harris fugues are unique. This one called "Affirmation" is the fourth movement from the Sixth Symphony, "Gettysburg".


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

The double fugue from Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms will never be mistaken for Bach, though it's certainly influenced by him.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

So You Want To Write A Fugue? ~ A Celebration of Glenn Gould
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSRfoOcUe4bOfPijlO_eUK0zbn7k0tHA










Jocelyn Morlock: Prelude and Fugue
Ka Nin Chan: Glenn Gould Gala: Fantasia and Fugue
Kati Agocs: Nostalgia for Airs Unheard
Ana Sokolovic: Prelude and Fugue for gg
Diana McIntosh: A Mir Prelude and Fugue
Andrew P. MacDonald: Toccata e fuga in memoriam Glenn Gould, Op. 74
Heather Schmidt: Twelve For Ten
Malcolm Forsyth: Preludio e Fuga sul nome di Glenn Gould
Stewart Goodyear: Prelude and Fugue
Andre Ristic: Prelude et Fugue
Gary Kulesha: Fugue and Postlude

Tribute to Glenn Gould by 11 Canadian composers. Very good. Some of the fugues sound unconventional. Sokolovic and Ristic are particularly interesting.


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## worov (Oct 12, 2012)

Barber Sonata :


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

These William Schuman pieces have become some of my favorite music. I don't know if the opening of symphony no. 5 (the second link) is actually a fugue or just fugal in parts; it's not labeled a fugue and I can't recognize this kind of stuff by ear. I don't know if these would be considered "Bachian" either.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Nielsen Symphonies 5 and 4 have some very ferocious and certainly non Bachian fugues that are thematically interwoven into their finales. The 6th seems to have starts of a similar nature in it's finale, but they are much more erratic and I can't at the moment recall if there is something that even qualifies as a somewhat straightforward fugal entrance.

I don't know what you call that vicious contrapuntal insanity that happens in the 1st movement of Shostakovich 4 in the string section, but it sounds fugue like. His 15th symphony has some strangely timed(as in the second entrance of a 'fugal passage' enters in 2's to the original 3's, or something like it) fugal sounding passages, one time with strings and another time with mostly woodwinds.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> These William Schuman pieces have become some of my favorite music. I don't know if the opening of symphony no. 5 (the second link) is actually a fugue or just fugal in parts; it's not labeled a fugue and I can't recognize this kind of stuff by ear. I don't know if these would be considered "Bachian" either.


Symphony 3 has some really cool stuff in it that I still enjoy hearing from time to time. Symphony 5 always interested me though it can fall flat with a dry performance and is beginning to have that later sound of Schuman that starts to sound really really dreary to me. Probably because I tried to listen to Symphony no. 6 too many times and kept getting interrupted.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues in all keys, Op. 87, have been mentioned. This 2.5 hour set of rather abstract preludes and fugues, written in an idiom perhaps ungrateful for many classical music fans, has nevertheless gained considerable popularity and has several fine recordings. My personal favorite is Melnikov's.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Might as well mention Mozart and his most famous Symphony no. 41's finale. He wrote two little gigues that seem me fugal and do not sound Bacchian, but it does sound different than most Mozart. I wish he had lived to write more of greater weight.

Also, here is a fugue that JS Bach certainly would not have written, but was written in the mature style of his eldest son, WF. They sometimes call this piece Sinfonia in D minor and it's a beautiful piece that really could get performed more: 




Fugues go way back, much further than Bach. Italian composers of the previous generation like Corelli were not shy with them, though they have a very different character. Go to the sixth movement of this suite for a fugue in a concerto grosso: 



 His most worthy successor(and JSB contemporary) in the concerto grosso form and style, Geminiani, did a fantastic one in his C minor concerto grosso op 2, the 2nd movement: 



 And of course Handel knew how to write a fugue in his instrumental passages. Check the 5th movement of this one: 




No composers of the time went for it as an art form unto itself quite like Bach did. But I would bet people in the organ tradition that he was from and in similar organ traditions from before his time, wrote a number of very interesting fugues that are a bit more 'pure.' Buxtehude and Georg Muffat(organ music, but maybe the concerti grossi contain some though their counterpoint tends to be more imitative and organically unpredictable) come to mind as likely candidates. Though these guys seemed more interested even more archaic contrapuntal forms for the organ.

I don't know the much older dutchman Sweelinck well enough to know if he wrote 'proper fugues. But the even older Antonio de Cabezon's instrumental music seems built on imitative counterpoint that enters in what we would call 'the dominant' from our later 'tonal perspective.'


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> Might as well mention Mozart and his most famous Symphony no. 41's finale...


OK, then I'll mention the finale of Mendelssohn's Octet, seemingly inspired by Mozart's Symphony 41 finale, and quite impressive on it's own account. He even uses one of Mozart's tunes (which Mozart in turn borrowed from Handel...)


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Bridge said:


>


The following is a YouTube video where you can see the score more clearly. Album cover or whatever is shown for 20 seconds, then score is shown beginning at measure 3.


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Here's the Beethoven with the score:


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Listen to the finale of one of the greatest late romantic chamber pieces!!:


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

tortkis said:


> So You Want To Write A Fugue? ~ A Celebration of Glenn Gould
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSRfoOcUe4bOfPijlO_eUK0zbn7k0tHA
> 
> 
> ...


I can't find the Sokolovic. Is this some kind of tradition that people do around the world?


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Alan Hovanes wrote several fugues in his orchestral music.

The most famous woud be the second movement from his Symphony #2 "Mysterious Mountain





Alleluia and Fugue





Psalm and Fugue


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## Bevo (Feb 22, 2015)

Maybe a little lesser known, and appreciated in my opinion, but check out some of Michael Haydn's Symphony finales. Mozart had a lot of respect his fugues, made sure to have his father let him know whenever Michael Haydn wrote a symphony including a fugual finale. So you might look into a few of those. Michael Haydn's Symphony 23 and 28 include ones. It's even believed that the 28th may have been an inspiration for Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, seeing as though it was composed around the same time. Just a thought.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

drpraetorus said:


> Alan Hovanes wrote several fugues in his orchestral music.


Another well-known piece is Hovhaness' _Prelude and Quadruple Fugue_.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

JosefinaHW said:


> I can't find the Sokolovic. Is this some kind of tradition that people do around the world?


This is Prelude and Fugue for gg by Ana Sokolovic.









This album was made on the occasion of Gould's 75th birthday (September 25, 2007). I think there were similar albums/festivals for Cage.


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

Mozart's Fugue in C minor is really awesome:


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Aaron Andrew Hunt: Fugue in 10ET (2015)

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https://soundcloud.com/uz1kt3k%2Ffugue-in-10et

Fugue In 9ET, in 7/8 (2015)

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https://soundcloud.com/uz1kt3k%2Ffugue-in-9et-in-78

Fugue In 14ET, a3 (2015)

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https://soundcloud.com/uz1kt3k%2Ffugue-in-14et-a3

The style is Bachian (I think), but the temperament is non Bachian.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Ernest Bloch: Concerto Grosso #1, 4th movement, Fugue.


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## Rhinotop (Jul 8, 2016)

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge, op. 133; 4th movement from Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier'
Liszt: Fugue from 'Fantasy and Fugue on Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, S.259' (in fact the whole piece is amazing!); Fugue from 'Prelude and Fugue on BACH, S.260'


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

This neobaroque composer is truly amazing


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## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

:Heliogabo: Thank you! The treasures from Spain never cease!



Heliogabo said:


> This neobaroque composer is truly amazing


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

I can't believe everyone has forgot the awesome opening movement of Bartok's excellent "Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta", another of the first classical pieces I loved.  :tiphat:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Xenakiboy said:


> I can't believe everyone has forgot the awesome opening movement of Bartok's excellent "Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta", another of the first classical pieces I loved.  :tiphat:


I haven't forgotten! Because of the double semitone nature of the fugue subject, I consider it in a chain with Bach's C-sharp minor fugue from Book 1 of the WTC and the fugue in the same key from the opening movement of Beethoven's Op. 131 string quartet. I'm sure the connection didn't escape Bartok.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*Heitor Villa-Lobos
*Bachianas Brasileiras nos. I, VII-IX.

*Alexander Glazunov*
Prelude & Fugue in D for piano (1899).
Four Preludes and Fugues, for piano (1918-1923).
Preludium and Fugue No. 1 in D major for organ (1906-1907).
Preludium and Fugue No. 2 in D minor for organ (1914).

*Anton Bruckner*
Symphony no. V in B-flat (the finale is technically fugal, but formally speaking, it's not a fugue).


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## pmkspp (Jul 9, 2016)

Let's be fair and mention some Liszt composition where at least fugal structure is present:

BACH (organ/piano), Ad nos ad salutarem undam (organ), the diabolic fugato of his Sonata and the beautiful orchestral fugue of the Dante Symphony's Purgatorio.


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