first three, but calls one l'autre, and the other le nouveau contre-sujet. The Artifices begin at the fourth bar, with an Imitation of the Third Counter-Subject in the Unison, and continue thence to the end of the Fugue, which embodies 243 bars of the finest contrapuntal writing to be found within the entire range of modern Music.
When the capabilities of the Subject have been demonstrated, and its various Counter-Subjects discussed, it is time to bind the various members of the Fugue more closely together, in the form of a Stretto[1] (Lat. Restrictio; Ital. Stretto, Restretto; Germ. Engführung; Fr. Rapprochement), or passage in which the Subject, Answer, and Counter-Subjects, are woven together, as closely as possible, so as to bind the whole into a knot. Aptitude for the formation of an artful Stretto is one of the most desirable qualities in a good Fugal Subject. Some Subjects will weave together, with marvellous ductility, at several different distances. Others can with difficulty be tortured into any kind of Stretto at all. Sebastian Bach's power of intertwining his Subject and Counter-Subjects seems little short of miraculous. The first Fugue of the XLVIII, in C major, contains seven distinct Stretti, all differently treated, and all remarkable for the closeness of their involutions. Yet, there is nothing in the Subject which would lead us to suppose it capable of any very extraordinary treatment. The secret lies rather in Bach's power over it. He just chose a few simple Intervals, which would work well together; and, this done, his Subject became his slave. Almost all other Fugues contain a certain number of Episodes; but here there is no Episode at all: not one single bar in which the Subject, or some portion of it, does not appear. Yet, one never tires of it, for a moment; though, as the Answer is in Real Fugue, it presents no change at all, except that of Key, at any of its numerous recurrences. Some wonderfully close Stretti will also be found in Bach's 'Art of Fugue'; in Handel's 'Amen Chorus'; in Cherubini's 'Et vitam,' already described; in the 'Et vitam' of Sarti's 'Credo,' for eight Voices, in D; and in many other great Choral Fugues by Masters of the 18th century, and the first half of the 19th, including Mendelssohn and Spohr. Some of these Stretti are found on a Dominant, and some on a Tonic Pedal. In all, the Subject is made the principal feature in the contrapuntal labyrinth. The following example, from the 'Gloria' of Purcell's English 'Jubilate,' composed for S. Cecilia's Day, 1694, is exceptionally interesting. In the first place, it introduces a new Subject—a not uncommon custom with the earlier Fuguists, when new words were to be treated—and, without pausing to develop its powers by the usual process of Repercussion, presents it in Stretto at once. Secondly, it gives the Answer, by Inversion, with such easy grace, that one forgets all about its ingenuity, though it really blends the learning of Polyphony with the symmetry of modern Form in a way which ought to make us very proud of our great Master, and the School of which he was so bright an ornament. For, when Purcell's 'Te Deum' and 'Jubilate' were written, Sebastian Bach was just nine years old.
With the Stretto or Organ-Point the Fugue is generally brought to a conclusion, and, in many examples, by means of a Plagal Cadence.
Having now traced the course of a fully developed modern Tonal Fugue, from its Exposition to its final Chord, it remains only to say a few words concerning some well-recognised exceptions to the general form.
We have said that the modern Fugue sprang into existence through the recognition of its Tonal Answer, as an inevitable necessity. Yet there are Subjects—and very good ones too—which, admitting of no natural Tonal Answer at all, must necessarily be treated in Real Fugue: not the old Real Fugue, formed upon a few slow notes treated in close Imitation; but, a form of Composition corresponding with the modern Tonal Fugue in every respect except its Tonality. Such a case is Mendelssohn's Fugue in E minor (op. 35, no. 1), in which the Answer is the Subject exactly a fifth higher.
Again, a Fugue is sometimes written upon, or combined with, a Canto fermo; and the resulting conditions very nearly resemble those prevailing on board a Flag-Ship in the British Navy; the functions of the Subject being typified by those of the Captain, who commands the ship, and the privileges of the Canto fermo, by those of the Admiral, who commands the Captain. Sometimes the Subject is made to resemble the Canto fermo very closely only in notes of shorter duration; sometimes it is so constructed as to move in Double Counterpoint against it. In neither case is it always easy to determine which
- ↑ From stringere, to bind.
