Fugue

Fugue is one of the most common type of music in the Baroque period.  It is a contrapuntal piece in two or more voices, while subjects and answers are reappearing in these voices throughout the piece. The terms used in Fugue will be explained in this composition.

It usually consist of 3 sections : an exposition, a development and a recapitulation ( which contains the return of the subject in the tonic key of that fugue, though not all fugues have a recapitulation. )


Subject - This is the main theme of a fugue, which is the first melody heard in that piece.


Counter Subject - This is another different melody heard when the 'answer' enters.


Answer - Each subject that enters will be 'answered', which means the subject is repeated ( usually ) in the dominant key. There is two types of answers : tonal answer and real answer.


1. Real Answer - It is the transposition of the subject to the dominant key, without changing any notes of the subject.


2. Tonal Answer - It is the transposition of the subject, but it can have minor changes and looks like it is still in the home key(tonic).


Exposition - The whole exposition is completed when all voices of the fugue subject has entered, for example when the last voice is finished.


Middle Entries - This is a further entry of the subject. It must state the subject or answer at least once in its entirety, and may be heard in combination with the countersubject(s) from the exposition, new countersubjects or any of these in combination.


Episode - connecting passage based on previously heard subject, more entries of the subject in the related keys will be heard.  Episode and entries are alternated until the final entry.


Final Entry - It is where the music returns to the opening theme in tonic key, and is often followed by coda.


Coda - It is the closing material of the piece, and when it ends, the whole piece is then ended.


Let's listen to a representative composition of fugue, composed by J.S.Bach :
Die Kunst der fuge (The Art of Fugue)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArpIePdK4Yc

CSVPA Music Concert Series Vol.1

The first concert was held in 21st, Oct, 2010, with the main theme of Halloween.  It started at 6:00 pm and last for one and half hour.  All the audiences were all very enjoy and we gained a lot of experiences too!


Here is the flow of pieces at that night :


1.    Jazz Jam                               by David, Michael, Hyuk and Brian
2.    Cry Me a River                       by Gabi, David, Hyuk and Michael
3.    Consolation                            by Sanly
4.    Make You Feel My Love          by Laysan and Sanly
5.    Nocturne                                by Arion
6.    La Parstorella                         by Cindy, Arion and Brian
7.    Pirates of Caribbean Medley  by David, Michael, Hyuk and Brian


The first, second and the fourth piece are modern pieces while the others are classical pieces.  Although there is a little problem with David's violin at the beginning, Kyna helped to fix the violin and the flow and continue very fluently throughout the concert.  There is no really serious mistakes and everyone did enjoy their pieces.  This made the audience felt very comfortable and entertaining!


Everyone dressed up and did make-up on our faces to look scary and funny, because this is a halloween concert!  Fortunately, the audience was not scared away by our faces! :D
All of us went to McDonalds to celebrate afterwards.  We felt very successful and glad that audience were really into the music made by us.  Hope that the series can make everybody enjoy music!

Music History - Classical Period

Classical period last for about 90 years, which started from approximately 1730 and ended in about 1820.  Music at this period is much lighter and clearer and also less complex texture than in Baroque period.  Musical directions was starting to be indicated in the music, such as crescendo, diminuendo and ritard.  Homophonic is mainly used in this period, and change of mood and tempo became more popular.  Orchestra was bigger than in Baroque period, harpsichord was also fell out of the orchestra, and the woodwind section has became an independent section already.

(I love classical music! :D)

Sonata form, often called first movement form or sonata-allegro form, was invented in this period.  This is one of the the major forms that is being used in classical music such as symphonies and chamber music. It consists of an exposition, a development and a recapitulation.


The exposition includes a first subject that consist of one or more themes, and all of them are in home key.  It is then followed by a transition for the composer to modulate from the key of the first subject to the key of the second one.  Then, the second subject will be appeared in a different key(usually the dominant if the key of the first subject is in major, and the relative major if the key of the first subject is in minor).  Then, the exposition will be ended in a perfect cadence by a codetta, which is a shorter form of coda.


It is then followed by the development part.  It is usually in the same key of the codetta of the exposition, and keys may be changes throughout the whole development part.  It consists of one or more extended themes from the exposition.  The length of development varies greatly in each piece, although it always shows a greater degree of tonal, harmonic and rhythmic instability than other parts.  At the end of the development part the key will be returned to the dominant key for preparing the start of recapitulation.


Recapitulation is the repeat of the exposition, thus it also consist of the first subject, transition, second subject and the codetta.  The second subject is now in the home key, sometimes with change of mode from major to minor or vice versa.  The codetta is sometimes replaced by a coda, which is much longer and contains more details than the codetta.

(A timeline of sonata form)

The most representative composer in this period is probably Mozart.  His full name is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and born in 27th January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria.  In his 35 years' life, he has composed over 600 works, including symphonies, minuets, operas, concertos, piano solos and duets, string quartets etc. Some of his famous pieces are Variations of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (Piano Solo), Don Giovanni(opera), Turkish March(Piano Solo), Die Zauberflöte ( The Magic Flute, opera ), Cosi fan tutti ( Women are all like that, opera ).He and his sister who named Nannerl are prodigies in music.  They both played piano very well and always helped to earn money in several European journeys, but Mozart was always ill and have to be taken a good care.  In later years, he had studied the music composed by J.S.Bach and Joseph Haydn, thus being influenced in come of his famous pieces such as Die Zauberflöte ( The Magic Flute ) and the finale of Symphony No.41.  Mozart was ill ( probably fever ) and dead in 5th December, 1791.  His final piece "Requiem" was finished by Süssmayr, one of his juniors.

(The Magic Flute)

Let's listen to the famous Aria "Queen of Night" in the opera The Magic Flute! ENJOY! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ODfuMMyss