The word originally meant “to chase”—and that’s pretty much what happens, as one voice or melodic line follows another with the same tune, before launching into variations that often go in very unexpected directions.
It's called a “fugue” and while its heyday was the 17th and 18th centuries, as we’ll hear in this hour, it has continued in use right up to the present day—and often in surprising ways.
FEATURED RECORDINGS
| Title |
Catalog # |
| Alma Brasileira |
RCA Red Seal 09026-68538-2 |
| Children’s Favorite Songs. Vol. 1 |
Walt Disney Records (LP) 2505 |
| Glenn Gould Silver Jubilee Album [for “So You Want to Write a Fugue”] |
Sony S2K60686 |
| Bach: L’Art de la Fugue |
Solstice SOCD 147 |
| Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. II |
Sony/CBS Masterworks M3K 42266 |
| Handel: Israel in Egypt |
Philips 446 657 2 |
| Handel: Messiah |
Linn CKD 285 |
| Haydn: The Creation |
Archiv Produktion 00289 477 7361 |
| Haydn: 12 London Symphonies |
Deutsche Grammophon DGG 546 150-3 |
| Mozart: Requiem |
Deutsche Grammophon DGG 419 610-2 |
| Beethoven: Grosse Fugue |
Deutsche Grammophon DGG 415 867-2 |
| Beethoven: String Quartets 13 &14 |
Deutsche Grammophon DGG B000120602 |
| Verdi: Falstaff |
Chandos CHAN3079 |
| The Complete Gershwin |
Vox CDX 5007 |
| Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2 'Mysterious Mountain' |
Musicmasters 7021-2-C |
