# Arvo Pärt - Summa, fugal?



## Sol Invictus (Sep 17, 2016)

I'm still trying to get my head around the what EXACTLY a fugue is. Anyone think this is a good example?


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sol Invictus said:


> I'm still trying to get my head around the what EXACTLY a fugue is. Anyone think this is a good example?


It's blocked for this part of the world.


----------



## Sol Invictus (Sep 17, 2016)

Pugg said:


> It's blocked for this part of the world.


Darn...

How about...


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sol Invictus said:


> Darn...
> 
> How about...


This one works, thanks.


----------



## Sol Invictus (Sep 17, 2016)

Pugg said:


> This one works, thanks.


I had hoped the first link would work because it includes the score, oh well. Any thoughts?


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

The writing in the Pärt has nothing to do with fugue or fugal techniques.

Traditional fugues begin with an exposition in which one voice or instrumental line after another begins with the same subject (melody or theme), in one of two different keys. So at first just one line is heard, then two, then three, and so on. In the middle section, after the exposition, subject entries in different closely related keys alternate with episodes in which some element of the subject or other material is spun out without a clear statement of the subject. The climax of a fugue is often a section of "stretto" where versions of the subject are stacked closely on top of one another. Fugues almost always end with a final statement of the subject in the home key.

This is a link to Bach's "Little Fugue" in G minor with a scrolling score:






Here is how the parts of the fugue lay out (as described above) with time indexes to the performance:

- Exposition (beg. to 1:18) - The same melody is played four times, beginning on G or D alternately.
- Episode - 1:18
- Subject entry with stretto and episode attached - 1:27
- Subject entries (2) in B-flat major 1:50
- Episode - 2:25 
- Subject entry in C minor - 2:39
- Episode - 2:50
- Subject entry in the home key (G minor) 3:15

This is a very typical fugue, so you should have a fair idea of how they work now.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

A related phenomenon is heard in works of Renaissance choral music, like Josquin's motet Ave Maria (link below). In works of this style, new lines of text are presented in "points of imitation," where each voice begins with the same line of text on the same melody. So it tends to sound like a bunch of little fugal expositions and episodes:






It would be anachronistic to call choral works like this fugal, but the similarities are obvious.


----------

