(
Brigham Young University
GIFT OF
Don Earl
Qj^C^>
//IT
AUGENER'S EDITION,
No. 9185-
FUGUEBY
EBENEZER PROUT,
B.A., Lond,
Hon. Mas. Doc. Trinity Coll., Dublin and Edinburgh, and Professor of Music in the University of Dublin.
TENTH IMPRESSION
LONDON:
AUGENER
Ltd.
Printed in England
by
AUGENER
Ltd.,
287 Acton Lane. London,
W.
4.
HAROLD 8. LEE LIBRARY BRIGHAfc? YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO, UTAH
PREFACETheretheoryisis
probably no branch of musical compositionwidely,
in
which
more
one might almost say hopelessly,
at variance
with practice than in that which forms the subject of the present
volume.
In Harmony, we are frequently meeting with cases in;
which the rules of the old text-books need much modification
but with regard to Fugue there are few indeed of the old precepts
which are not continually, notthe greatest masters.
to say systematically violatedis
bytheit
The
reason for this
no doubt
that
standard authorities on the subject,
Fux and Marpurg,and Albrechtsbergermain adopted
treated
from the point of view of the seventeenth century, and that mostof their successors, such as Cherubini(to
name
two of the mosttakinglittle
illustrious),
have
in the
their rules,
or
no account of the reformation, amounting almostof the fugue at the hands ofJ.
to a reconstruction,
S.
Bach.
Somewhat more
liberality of}
tone
will
be found
in the treatises of
Andre, Richter, and Lobe
but not one of these, excepting Lobe,
has taken Bach's work as the starting point for his investigations.
Lobe, on the other hand,the "
is
too revolutionary
;
he even abolishes
names
" subject'
5
and "answer," using instead the terms
first
imitation/' " second imitation," &c.find a distinguished theorist like
When weBachis
Andre saying
that
not a good model because he allows himself too
exceptions,
and are informedis
that
one of the principal
many German
teachers of counterpointthereis
in
the habit of telling his pupils that
not a single correctly written fugueit is
among
Bach's ' Forty-
Eight," surely
high time that an earnest protest were entered
against a system of teaching which places in a kind of " Index
Expurgatorius
"
the works of the greatest fugue writer that the
world has ever seen.
iv
Preface.In writing the present treatise, the author has consultedall
the
standard authorities, but (as ma}' be inferred from what has just
been
said) has followed none.
He
has proceeded on the same
principles
which have guided him
in all the
preceding volumes of
this series,
and has gone
to
the works of the great composers
themselves, has carefully analyzed and examined them, and fromtheir practice
has deduced his rules, without paying the
least
regard
to
what might be said on the subject by Marpurg or
Cherubini.
Heand
has started with the axiom, which few will be
bold enough to dispute, thatexistence,that whateveris
Bach's fugues are the finestsystematically,
in
Bach does
and not
merely exceptionally,
the correct thing for the student to do.
HeHe
therefore
first
put into open score and carefully analyzed the
whole of the
forty-eight fugues in the "
Wohltemperirtes Clavier. n
next examined every fugue, vocal and instrumental, to be found
in the fortyschaft,
volumes of Bach's works published by the Bach Gesellall
making notes of
points of importance.
But he did notat least a
confine his attention to Bach.
He
examined probably
thousand fugues, including
all
those by Handel, Mozart, Beet-
hoven, Mendelssohn, and Schumann, besides a largeother writers ofactually
number byfarther his
more
or less eminence, to find out what had beenart.
done by the greatest masters of our
The
researches extended, the deeper
became
his conviction of
the
necessity of placing the laws of fugal constructiondifferent basis
on an altogetherresult
from that hitherto adopted.
The
of his
investigations will be found in the following pages.
In the words
of the
Psalmist,
he may
say,
"I
believed,in this;
thereforewill
have
I
spoken."
A
great deal to be found
book
probably
horrify old-fashioned musicalruleis
conservativesis
but not a single new
propoundedgreat
for
which warrant;
not given from the works
of
the
composers
and
if
he shrank from the logicalauthor
consequences of the
examination of these works, the
would be untrue
to his
own
convictions.is
Theas that
general plan of this volume
to
some extent "he sameadmirable Primer onin
adopted by Mr. James Higgsfar the best treatise
in his
" Fugue," byIt
on the subject
our language.
would be dishonest of the author not to acknowledge the
Preface.assistance he has derived
v
from
this
little
work, which indeed
it
would be impossibleignore.
for
any
later writer
on the same subjectand, though
to
To
Mr. Higgs
we owe
the clearest exposition yet written;
of the important matter of fugal answer
it
will
be
seen that the rules given in this volumerespects from those infesses that track.Itisit
differ in several material
the
" Primer," thefirst
author
frankly
conright
was Mr. Higgs who
put
him on the
on
this
very
subject
fugal
answer
thatIII.
the
great
composers depart most widely from the oldit is
rules.
The new
and,
hoped, very simple rules given in Chapters
and IV. are
enforced by nearly 150 examples, of which more than sixty are
by Bach.
Other composers areall
also freely
drawn upon; but
throughout the volume, inthe final authority.
cases of doubt,
Bach
is
treated as
In order to
assist
the student,
it
has been thought best to
take the different portions of alearn
fugue separately, that hebefore
may
how
to
construct each
part
he proceeds to the
compositionsubject,
of
an entire fugue.Episode,
The
chapters
on Counternotonly
Exposition,illustrations
and
Stretto,
contain
numerous
from the great masters, but specimens oi
each, written expressly for the guidance of the student.
While
an endeavour has been made to make them musically interesting,it
must be remembered that they are merely intendedto
as exercises,
and have no claim
be judged as compositions.
Thewill,it
chapter onis
"
believed,
The Middle and Final Sections of a Fugue" be found new by English readers. Thefirst
author cannot, however, claim the credit of thethat
discoveryis
a fugue
is
written in ternary form.in
That honour
due
to Dr.
H. Riemann,Itis
his analysis of Bach's "
Wohltemperirtesout,
Clavier."that
nevertheless so obvious
when once pointedit,
the
author of course availed himself ofhis
and herewithfor
acknowledges
obligationsit
to
Dr.
Riemann
the
idea,
though he has developedof the original discoverer.
in
a somewhat different way from that
Of^ere.
the later chapters of the volume not
much need be
said
The concluding
chapter, on "
Accompanied Fugue,"
deals
vi
Preface. book we haveit
with a branch of the subject not touched on in any
met with;
but
its
importance in modern music renderedit.
desirable to say a few words about
As belongingtheoretical
to
practical compositionis
rather than tois
mere
study,
fugue
a
subjectit;
which
best
taught b]
examples.
In the present volume
was impossible to give morebutthis will
than a very few complete fugues
be followed as
soon as possible by a companion volume on "Fugal Analysis,"the materials of whichwill'