In a four-voice fugue exposition, the second voice enters with the answer rather than restating the subject exactly. What is the primary purpose of the answer?
ATo provide rhythmic contrast by entering at a different point in the meter
BTo avoid monotony by using different melodic intervals than the subject
CTo transpose the subject (usually to the dominant) so all voices enter without repeating the same tonal area
DTo demonstrate invertible counterpoint by placing the subject in a higher register
The answer is the subject transposed to the dominant key (a fifth above), and its function is tonal: it begins the process of establishing tonal contrast in the exposition by moving to a closely related key. A tonal answer may adjust a few intervals to smooth out key-area transitions; a real answer transposes exactly. The countersubject (option D's hint) is a separate melody accompanying the answer, not the answer itself. Options A and B misidentify the answer's role — rhythmic variety and melodic contrast are incidental, not primary.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
A fugue episode appears between two subject entries in the development section. Which of the following best describes the episode's function?
AThe episode presents the subject in inversion, showing the theme from a new angle
BThe episode is a passage without a complete subject statement, typically developing motivic fragments and modulating to prepare the next entry
CThe episode is where the countersubject is heard alone, without the subject, for the first time
DThe episode introduces a new, contrasting theme to provide relief from the subject's domination
Episodes are transitional passages that lack a complete subject statement. They develop motivic material — often from the countersubject or the subject's tail — and perform the crucial harmonic function of modulating between key areas, setting up the next subject entry in a new tonal center. They are not where new themes appear (a fugue derives everything from its subject) and they are not inversions of the subject (that would still be a subject entry). Option A describes a development technique (inversion), not an episode.
Question 3 True / False
In stretto, subject entries overlap: a new voice enters with the subject before the previous entry has finished. Stretto typically occurs at the same time interval between entries throughout a fugue.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
Stretto intervals vary. Bach and other composers frequently tighten the time interval between entries as the fugue progresses, creating increasing urgency as entries overlap more closely. A fugue might introduce stretto at a four-bar interval and later compress it to one bar or even half a bar. The compression itself is a compositional technique for building intensity. The stretto interval is determined by what the subject's melodic and harmonic profile allows — not all subjects permit tight stretto, and the best subjects are designed to admit it at multiple time intervals.
Question 4 True / False
The countersubject is freely composed for each fugue entry and may change depending on which voice carries the subject.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
The countersubject is a consistent melodic idea designed to accompany the subject contrapuntally throughout the fugue. It follows the subject from voice to voice — when the subject enters in the alto, the countersubject appears in the soprano; when the subject moves to the bass, the countersubject appears in the tenor, etc. This consistency is precisely what makes it a countersubject rather than free counterpoint. Its consistent harmonic and rhythmic relationship to the subject is what enables the fugue to develop the two ideas in combination throughout the piece.
Question 5 Short Answer
What does it mean to analyze a fugue 'at two levels simultaneously,' and why is either level alone insufficient?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: Fugal analysis operates at the local level (beat-by-beat voice leading: intervals between voices, suspensions, resolutions, parallel fifths) and the large-scale architectural level (when and where subject entries occur, in what keys and voices, how episodes modulate between them, where the structural climax falls). Local analysis alone reduces the fugue to a series of harmonic snapshots without explaining its overall shape or purpose. Large-scale analysis alone treats entries as structural pillars without understanding how the lines interact between them. The fugue's logic — how motivic material generates both the moment-to-moment counterpoint and the large-scale architecture — only becomes clear when both levels are tracked simultaneously.
The two-level framework captures what makes fugue distinctive as a form: it is simultaneously a harmonic journey (analyzable like any tonal piece by its key areas and modulations) and a contrapuntal texture (where every beat is governed by voice-leading rules). Understanding the subject's role in both dimensions — as a harmonic entity that defines key areas when it enters, and as a melodic entity whose intervals generate the local counterpoint — is the goal of fugal analysis at its most complete.