# Can this be considered fugue, or at least counterpoint?



## aszkid

Hello, i'm quite new to this classical music world. I play the piano (big words, just three months with a Yamaha P35). I've been listening to everything i've had time to, and wanted to give a few shots to composition too, why not?

Between yesterday and tooday i've been doing some kind of crappy test, to imitate Bach's 'Well Tempered Clavier' preludes and fugues. I've used MuseScore, there you have the PDF of the sheet and the WAV export.

Tell me, what do you think about it? I introduce two themes (1st and 8th bars, i believe), and i've had a really bad time to make a decent-sounding finale. Still, i don't like some parts (4th bar bass, 7-10th bars) and i would love some comments, wether bad or good.

Thank you for your time!

PDF: https://mega.co.nz/#!AhUngYrC!VdR5Bm21cIcK1pyUP8T95X6EIaIFsJ2LWfy-Mzfq39g
FLAC: https://mega.co.nz/#!5pFB2KTZ!OrEteEUJpsiebKSqehbLGy2KM1EGFWmO46vQOX7REew


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## ScipioAfricanus

nice work. expand it if you can.


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## ScipioAfricanus

ps. the second voice of the fugue needs to come in at a 5th above or below the initial first theme. You basically have the second voice come in in the same key in the bass (left hand). It actually needs to come in at D, since your fugue is essentially in G major.


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## ScipioAfricanus

Here are some sources.
Bach's G minor
http://javanese.imslp.info/files/im...LP153148-Bach-Philipp_Little_Fugue_BWV578.PDF

How to write a fugue





How to write a fugue
http://legacy.earlham.edu/~tobeyfo/musictheory/Book2/FFH2_CH8/8C_FugueComposition.html


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## StevenOBrien

Well, not too bad for a first try, but you still have a long way to go. I can certainly hear the beginnings of some interesting ideas.

I'd recommend you go and study species counterpoint, followed by studies in thorough bass. Once you're fluent in both of those areas, you can either pick up a theory book on fugue or just commit to your own studies of Bach's inventions/fugues.

Oh, and this is for you :






Good luck!



ScipioAfricanus said:


> ps. the second voice of the fugue needs to come in at a 5th above or below the initial first theme. You basically have the second voice come in in the same key in the bass (left hand). It actually needs to come in at D, since your fugue is essentially in G major.


Well, it doesn't NEED to, but it's certainly the generally accepted "rule". This composition would do better with it, certainly.


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## PetrB

Completely Redundant, hadn't noticed it is already posted immediately above.
*(So you want to write a fugue)*


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## aszkid

Thanks a lot for your comments, helps me a lot!


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## aszkid

Isn't the start of the second movement of the 7th symphony (Beethoven) kinda simliar to a fugue? Then it breaks down at 2:20, but that thing is cool...


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## Mahlerian

aszkid said:


> Isn't the start of the second movement of the 7th symphony (Beethoven) kinda simliar to a fugue? Then it breaks down at 2:20, but that thing is cool...


It's actually a canon at the unison, which is a little bit different. Fugues are not (usually) strictly imitative, that is, the counterpoint, while usually derived from the subject, is written freely and not exactly the same thing in the same order.

There is a fugato passage later in that movement, though it's a little on the brief side.


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## aszkid

Mahlerian said:


> It's actually a canon at the unison, which is a little bit different. Fugues are not (usually) strictly imitative, that is, the counterpoint, while usually derived from the subject, is written freely and not exactly the same thing in the same order.
> 
> There is a fugato passage later in that movement, though it's a little on the brief side.


Thanks Mahler 
By the way, i nearly died today at the very start of your ninth, just a pair of minutes after. That was one of the most beautiful and chaotic thing i've listened in a freaking long time.


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## esharpe

I know you are just starting out, so I will try to be not too harsh. 

There are some engraving issues, mostly with accidentals. A quick look through you need to make all of the A#'s Bb and the D# Eb. What you would want is to have a key signature of two flats. 

As other's have pointed out a Fugue is (since Approximately just before J.S. Bach) the second voice would be on the fifth. So what you have is what in the Renaissance would be called a fugue at the octave. (In the Renaissance (proto) Fugues could be at almost any interval) 

As for counterpoint there are some serious errors, the most prominent is the parallel octaves in bar three. There are some other Parallel octaves in some other places and at least one parallel fifth. 

Note: In Fugue writing we use the term Subject not Theme.

Is there a reason you did not include a tempo indication?


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## aszkid

esharpe said:


> I know you are just starting out, so I will try to be not too harsh.
> 
> There are some engraving issues, mostly with accidentals. A quick look through you need to make all of the A#'s Bb and the D# Eb. What you would want is to have a key signature of two flats.
> 
> As other's have pointed out a Fugue is (since Approximately just before J.S. Bach) the second voice would be on the fifth. So what you have is what in the Renaissance would be called a fugue at the octave. (In the Renaissance (proto) Fugues could be at almost any interval)
> 
> As for counterpoint there are some serious errors, the most prominent is the parallel octaves in bar three. There are some other Parallel octaves in some other places and at least one parallel fifth.
> 
> Note: In Fugue writing we use the term Subject not Theme.
> 
> Is there a reason you did not include a tempo indication?


Thanks for your comments! I was just trying to imitate by ear the few minutes i listened to Bach fugues and generally Bach's counterpoint. I have completely zero studies on none of those two concepts, but i'll get to it as soon as i can, developing more and more the central subject.
About the tempo... i really didn't care much about the real-life performance of this piece, so as Musescore has a default tempo of 120 BPM, that was OK for me and the recording i guess.

Thank you!


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