The Asian Age, op-Ed, October 07, 2008
The art, science and beauty of Bach’s music
Jayati Ghosh
A fugue is a composition of western classical music that is based on several parts, or voices, singing simultaneously. The opening subject is introduced by one voice, and then taken up by others until each voice has expressed the theme. The music can then take any direction, with periodic entries of the theme or other strands depending on the composer’s choice. But the extraordinary thing about a successful fugue is that, even as individual voices proceed on their own often quite complex ways, the whole combination is continuously harmonised and internally consistent.
The word fugue comes from "fuga" (or "flight") possibly expressing the idea of one voice pursued by, or fleeing from, another. It could also express the greater freedom of form which is accorded to the fugue, compared to the canon (which means "rule") a much more strict version in which repetition of the theme by different voices is all that is permitted.
The great master of the fugue was of course Johann Sebastian Bach. In the two-and-a-half centuries since his death, it has proved impossible for anyone to even come close to his fugal output, which certainly marks the pinnacle of human creation in this area. It is impossible to describe the sheer perfection and completeness of his fugues in words, while a simple recounting of their numbers would leave anyone utterly exhausted.
read the full article
read the full article
