Fugue is the name of a musical genre as well as a technique that can be used as part of a larger composition that includes other techniques. It is a technique that involves repeating thematic material in each voice of the composition in turn, each proclaiming it in turn, and using material developed through imitative counterpoint. It differs from a round in that after stating the theme, each voice continues to create accompanying material.
The exposition, in which the main material or subject is played in the tonic key by the first voice, and the answer, in which the same material is given by the second voice and transposed to the dominant or subdominant, are both important elements of the fugue. A counter-subject may be introduced by the first voice if desired. Other developmental strategies can be used, but they are not required.
Although a number of composers of fugue preceded him, Johann Sebastian Bach is widely regarded as the greatest, having pioneered the genre with his works Art of the Fugue, Goldberg Variations, and Well-tempered Clavier. Other notable early-eighteenth-century composers include George Frideric Handel and Johann Joseph Fux.
The fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach have been featured in a number of films. The Aviator, Sour Grapes, The Pest, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Electric Dreams, Speed, Rollerball, The Monkees in Paris, The Great Race, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Mysterious Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Sunset Boulevard, Fantasia, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are among the films that have featured “Toccata and Fugue in D minor.” Other Bach fugues that have been adapted for film include:
“Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F Sharp Major” is the code name for The Cleaner.
“Little Organ Fugue” — “Thank You for Smoking”
Well-tempered Clavier Book 1: “Prelude and Fugue No. 13”; Harvard Man
Fugue from the “Toccata and Fugue in C minor” by House of Games; and
“Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor” from The Godfather.
As the Classical period progressed, the fugue lost favor in favor of the sonata and symphony. Nonetheless, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used fugal development in the Jupiter Symphony’s final movement, as well as the overture to Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute in English). In his Missa solemnis, Ludwig van Beethoven used a fugal finale.
Richard Wagner used fugal counterpoint in his overture to Die Meistersinger — The Mastersinger in English — and Berlioz used fugal counterpoint in La damnation de Faust — The Damnation of Faust in English. In his opera Wozzeck, Alban Berg created an atonal fugue, and Igor Stravinsky included one in the Symphony of Psalms’ second movement. Throughout the twentieth century, interest in the fugue became increasingly linked to historical imitation rather than new compositional techniques.