25 votes

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor breaks the "no parallel octaves" rule?

The counterpoint rules for parallel octaves (and fifths) apply in cases where two or more voices are meant to be heard as independent. Similarly for covered fifths and octaves. (Also for long strings ...
ttw's user avatar
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12 votes
Accepted

What makes a piece a fugue?

(Note that Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" is two separate sections; if you're looking for fugal writing in the toccata portion, you'll have some trouble!) Fugue is a type of polyphonic contrapuntal ...
Richard's user avatar
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9 votes

What, if anything, is known about Bach's interpretation of, or emphasis on, meter?

This is a very interesting question, and I wish I had the time I would need to incorporate more source material into this answer. Some thoughts: in a passage such as the example, in 4/4 meter with ...
phoog's user avatar
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6 votes

Does anyone have any sources I could use to talk about who influenced Bach?

I would rely on Christoph Wolff's excellent Johann Sebastian Bach. The Learned Musician (published 2001), which features an entire chapter about Bach's great interest for previous and contemporary ...
giobrach's user avatar
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6 votes
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If fugue voices are in different keys how come they don't clash?

The subject of a fugue is first stated alone, then a second voice is added which re-states it at a different pitch (typically a 5th higher). If this 'answer' is literally transposed it's called a '...
Laurence's user avatar
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6 votes
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I wrote two alternate fugue expositions for one subject does either follow good harmonic conventions?

I suppose the Peabody Institute might hope that candidates realized that Bach has written an extended textbook on this exact situation, namely "Das Kunst der Fuge." Bach's fugue subject does have a C ...
guest's user avatar
  • 76
5 votes

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor breaks the "no parallel octaves" rule?

The only rules about relative motion are in textbooks. Those rules describe norms or ideals for voice leading in a specific style, but outside of pedagogy there aren't rules. The clearest evidence ...
Michael Curtis's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Regarding the beginning of Gould's B minor fugue, WTC 1, performance

Short Answer: Just tap eighth notes throughout the entire subject. You'll find that the G♯ lasts four eighth notes, not three or five. Furthermore, Gould gives slight accents to the first of each ...
Richard's user avatar
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5 votes

Why can't a fugue begin on the mediant?

Well, when one wants an exhaustive list of obscure exceptions to every conceivable musical principle, often the person to turn to is the great Ebenezer Prout, whose books are full of just that sort of ...
Athanasius's user avatar
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5 votes

Fingering for Bach's Toccata in E-minor BWV914

I recommend starting with the left hand (12132435). It's more natural as the theme evolves, since the next voice enters with the right hand. Hope this helps!
89f3a1c's user avatar
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5 votes

How many voices (lines) can a fugue realistically have?

Giving a fugue some "rhythmic identity" is (like most issues in writing counterpoint) just a matter of knowing the right standard tricks to use. Make the notes of the subject either longer or shorter ...
guest's user avatar
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5 votes
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What type of fugue occurs in Glazunov's saxophone concerto?

This section is a fughetta (or, in fugato style): a short fugue, with exposition plus only a few restatements of the subject. Fugato applies to music where only part of a fugue — usually an ...
Aaron's user avatar
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4 votes

If fugue voices are in different keys how come they don't clash?

The wikpedia reference given by the OP in a comment says nothing about "playing voices in two keys simultaneously". But the assertion that I can't play a C major scale with a C# major scale it ...
guest's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor breaks the "no parallel octaves" rule?

No, Bach didn't break any rules, because there are no rules. What Bach did was write music that people still want to listen to, a few centuries after he wrote it. When you read a list of "unbreakable ...
guest's user avatar
  • 57
4 votes

Key modulation in a fugue, how to not lose sight of the tonic?

Answer to your real question: go ahead and lose sight of the tonic. J.S. Bach did that all the time in his fugues, wandering apparently haphazardly from key to key, and nobody's complained. ...
Camille Goudeseune's user avatar
4 votes

Do parts need to overlap in order to be considered as imitation?

'Imitation' is a very broad term for a very broad musical concept. Imagine a composition where a melodic or rhythmic element DIDN'T often echo something already heard? Let's start from the Wikipedia ...
Laurence's user avatar
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4 votes
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Fingering for Bach's Toccata in E-minor BWV914

It's very easy to recommend fingering for a certain part but that's only half the story. I'd go for the 545 3423 1 as all of that falls under my hand, but there's no reason at all that your hand will ...
Tim's user avatar
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4 votes

Fingering for Bach's Toccata in E-minor BWV914

Why are you even playing this with the right hand? The right hand part doesn't start until 4 bars later. There is no option about playing similar passages with the left hand at least half dozen times ...
guest's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes

What is the difference between a double fugue and a fugue with multiple countersubjects?

A normal fugue begins with the subject being stated (in the tonic) by one part (say A), which goes on to take the counter-subject when another part (say B) begins the subject (in the dominant). If ...
Peter's user avatar
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4 votes
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What is the difference between a double fugue and a fugue with multiple countersubjects?

A counter-subject is typically a continuation from the subject, in the same voice. So in a typical simple fugue, a first voice enters with the subject; then a second voice enters with the subject, ...
PLL's user avatar
  • 948
4 votes
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How to identify this Bach Fugue

It's the second part of the closing chorale from the first part of the cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21. I found it by looking at the Wikipedia List of fugal ...
phoog's user avatar
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3 votes
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In Glenn Gould's "So you want to write a fugue", what's that instrumental part?

Yes, it's a little joke. After the words "... John Sebastian must have been a very personable guy" the instrumental part starts with the first 4 bars of J S Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No 2.
guest's user avatar
  • 46
3 votes

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor breaks the "no parallel octaves" rule?

Bach didn't break the rule because this rule can't be applied for these 2 examples and especially not for the unisono passages. "Absolutely no parallel 5ths or 8ves between any 2 voices. If you ...
Albrecht Hügli's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

While playing fugues, do pianists follow each voice simultaneously?

The main thing you're talking about is called audiating, which means hearing the music in your head. Being able to audiate is a very important skill for all musicians, and it is a learned skill. ...
Todd Wilcox's user avatar
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3 votes

other "academic exercise" compositions like "Die Kunst der Fuge"?

I might have to disagree with you that it was "solely an academic exercise," but here are some other possibilities: Bach's Musical Offering, where King Frederick II gave Bach a particularly nasty ...
Richard's user avatar
  • 84.4k
3 votes

Does anyone have any sources I could use to talk about who influenced Bach?

You might try "The Bach Reader," which is a compilation of contemporary articles and letters. http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Bach-Reader-Sebastian/dp/0393319563 There are a bunch of biographies (Too ...
ttw's user avatar
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