Saturday, May 27, 2006

The Fugue

After being in touch with different forms of music for quite some time, I have to mention that I really, really, really love fugues. In the hands of genius composers, their fugal compositions shine well above the rest of their works and never fail to amaze me. The complexity of the form seems to make the fugue fit for expressing the most profound of musical ideas.

I just got myself The Study Of Fugue by Alfred Mann. Well, I pretty much gave up after the first few pages. I realise I need a whole lot more knowledge of contrapuntal writing before I can start on this book which specialises in the fugue alone. Just thought an understanding of the fugue will aid me in my performance of those fugues which I most adore but I realise studying the fugue will take me on the most demanding musical journey. I'll take it easy for now, since I'm not much into composition, though I sure have a strong desire to find out how the whole form works.

Now, we shall see how it works out from here. Back to my practice for now...

2 comments:

Hucbald said...

I also have Mann's The Study of Fugue. It is an amazing historical overview, but you REALLY need a few YEARS of counterpoint before you tackle that one. I would suggest Kent Kennan's "Counterpoint" and Mann's earlier "Counterpoint" which is Fux translated. After those, you can get "Study" again.

Good luck! ;^)

solitudex said...

Arh, that's some good recommendation. I'll certainly check them out. Thanks so much!