FUGUE, in music, is the name of a composition wherein the parts do not all begin at once, but follow or pursue one another at certain distances; thence the name, f'uga, flight or chase, each part successively taking up the subject or melody. Any of the parts may begin the F., but the others follow according to fixed rules. The subject is generally a fewbars of melody, which is given out in the principal key by the part which begins. The next part which enters repeats the same melody, but a fifth higher or a fourth lower, and is called the answer. The third part follows with the subject again in the principal key, but an octave higher or lower than the first part, and is answered by the fourth part in the same manner as the second part answers the first. After the subject is completed. the melody which follows it, so as to form a continua tion of the part, is called the counterpoint, in the construction of which, facilities for ingenious double counterpoints of various kinds are afforded. When the subject and answer have been introduced in all the parts, the first section of the F. is said to be completed; an intermediate harmony of a few bars then follows, sometimes in its form like part of the subject, and with a modulation into a nearly related key. The subject and answer are again brought forward, but following in a different order from the first section; while at the same time all the parts are continued, and in some of them the original counterpoint appears either simply or inverted, the subject and answer forming the predominating idea throughout the whole composition, and towards the end appear ing in a vliriety of forms, intervals, and modifications. When the subject does not
extend in compass beyond the half of an octave, the answer is invariably made in the other half; and to avoid modulation out of the key, the progression of a fifth is answered by a fourth. A F. consisting of one subject with a counterpoint throughout, is called a strict F., as in the following example by J. Sebastian Bach, in which the first progression of a fifth is answered by a fourth: When a second subject is introduced in the middle of the,composition, and afterwards worked lip with the „first subject, it is then called a F. on two subjects, as in the follow ing Graun's Tod jesu:.
A free F. is that in which the subject and counterpoint are not strictly treated through out, but mixed up with intermediate harmonies and ideas not connected with the sub ject, while the rules of the F. are not rigidly adhered to.
The F. has always been, and will continue to be, esteemed by every sound musician, not from its being the most difficult style of composition, but from its riot being subject to caprice and faShion. The fugues of Bach, Handel, and other composers possess the same interest for the present time as they have done for generations past. Although the F. is held by many to be a mere mechanical study, which can be composed or written purely by rule and calculation, still, it uudoubtealy holds out to a composer of genius a wide field for great and beautiful effects, as well as peculiar artistic combina tions. The best works on the F. are by Marpurg, Albrechtsberger, Kirnberger, and the late prof. S. W. Dehn, of Berlin.