Fugue and Prelude
What do the musical terms fugue and prelude mean?
A fugue is a polyphonic form of composition consisting of several independent voices. A fugue is usually based on a single theme, which is performed for the first time in a single voice right at the beginning of the piece. Next, the second voice repeats the theme and the original voice accompanies contrapuntally, after which the other voices join in one by one until all the voices have performed the theme according to the exact rules. This is called the introductory period. After that, the structure of the music can vary greatly and the manifestation of the theme may differ from the original.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is considered one of the most important fugue composers in the history of music, whose compositions include the landmark work of piano music, Das wohltemperierte Klavier (1722, 1744). Both suites of the two-part work contain 24 preludes and fugues, one in each major and minor key. Bach’s unfinished work Die Kunst der Fuge (1750) is considered the culmination of his polyphonic work, as the pieces are complexly composed and present a variety of fugue types.
Bach is considered to have developed the fugue to its peak, as there has been no significant development in the fugue form since Bach. In fact, the fugue form was considered exhausted and lost its significance as a form of composition for many centuries. Interest was not rekindled until the early 1900s, when the fugue began to be seen as expressive again. The fugue form was widely used by Dmitri Shostakovich, Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith, among others.
Unlike the fugue, the prelude does not have a well-defined internal structure. A prelude is usually a piece that is intended as an introduction to a more extensive composition, often in the same key. Prelude means overture, and for this purpose the prelude appears, for example, in Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier , mentioned earlier, and in Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87. A prelude can also be an independent composition that does not belong together with any other type of composition.
Ida Henritius