Getting Started With Writing, Part XIV

(con't from Part XIII)
There are times when we've just finished composing a piece where our pen is idle for a few days and it's unclear to us what we should attempt to write next.
This can put us in a bit of a quandary as we attempt to find an answer to that question.
The answer, actually, is quite simple: we can start anywhere.
All starting places are equally valid.
We can continue in the same genre until our heart's content, or we can branch out in another direction, whatever suits our fancy; the main idea is to remain comfortable while we're creating it.
There are exceptions, but, in general, it's counterproductive to first settle upon a form and then struggle to come up with a theme or subject to go with it; this has everything backwards.
The theme, which is the "soul' of the music, will pretty much suggest to us what kind of form the composer needs to create to give it a corporeal body best suited to it.
It's much more difficult, not to mention frustrating, when we we try to work in reverse, when we tell ourselves we're going to write a certain type of piece, then try to invent a theme for it.
When we unearth a theme that looks like it will make a good fugue subject, for example, we can work that theme in rhythmic transformation (same notes in succession, different note values) to come up with another theme.
We can then try rhythmically transforming another fugue's subject or countersubjects and see what we can come up with.
It's unlikely that any of this will fail to provide some kind of thematic material, but if it doesn't, and we're still stalled as to what to invent, we can rhythmically transform a theme or countersubject taken from anywhere to set our imagination in motion; nothing is off limits in the universe of composing as long as we maintain our originality.
If you like the fugue(s) that you've already written, and you've adopted the method described in these posts for creating this type of piece the easy way, then why not write another one.
This narrative will explain how the D Major Fugue from Op. 18 (photo) was written, taking the subject through all 5 nearly related keys and making use of certain contrapuntal devices.
This busy work was put together using only a notebook PC, Noteflight online music writing software, and the method of fugue writing described in these posts [See blog, Getting Started WIth Writing, Part VI].
By way of review, once we have a blank score and have settled upon a time signature and key signature, we place our fugue on one line and invent a countersubject to go with it; the 2 lines together should create perpetual 8th note or 16th note motion.
After this, we should work out on a separate sheet of paper how many entries the Fugue will have, in what keys, and the voice leading in each, giving each voice at least one opportunity to carry the subject once the exposition (referred to in these posts as the "1st entry") concludes.
Let's say we'll be writing in 4 voices and there will be 6 entries altogether, we're going to take the subject through all 5 nearly related keys, and we're going to have a (5th) redundant entry in the exposition.
Obviously, in a 4 voice fugue with 5 additional entries following the exposition, the subject will have to appear in the same voice in more than one entry, that's just a fact of life, but by working it all out in advance on a separate sheet of paper every voice might be charted to carry the subject at least once, and excessive duplication in the voice leading may be avoided.
It will help to download and print a copy of the D Major Choral & Fugue Op. 18 and follow it as this narrative proceeds [See menu bar, Free Stuff] ... the Choral is discussed separately in Getting Started With Writing, Part XV.
We'll start, let's say, with the subject in the soprano line in the home key starting on the 1st scale degree with a real answer supplied in the tenor in the dominant key and a (1st) countersubject continuing in the soprano.
This is a very common and useful way to begin a fugue; and here, with the opening statement of the subject being on the 1st scale degree, the answer follows on the 5th degree, as expected.
A 4 bar modulating episode for 2 voices then brings about a smooth return to the home key for the 3rd entry.
This time the subject enters in the alto; a 3rd voice meanwhile appears in the soprano as the (1st) countersubject is repeated in the tenor. completing a 3 voice texture.
Since this free voice is repeated in each subsequent entry it becomes a 2nd countersubject.
The subject then makes a 4th entry in the dominant key in the bass, the alto carries the 1st countersubject, the tenor carries the 2nd countersubject, and a free voice assigned to the soprano completes a 4 part texture; since this free voice reappears in each subsequent entry, it become a 3rd countersubject.
So far, so good.
Ordinarily this would complete the exposition in all its essentials, but here, we find something unexpected ... a (5th) redundant entry with all inverted! [See blog, Getting Started With Writing, Part XIII].
This additional entry allows the alto to carry the 2nd countersubject and the bass to carry the 1st countersubject for the purpose of exhibiting the double counterpoint between these 2 lines in the exposition; since the subject is reiterated here in the original opening voice (the soprano) it becomes, in effect, super-added, hence the term "redundant."
What's significant about this redundant entry is that 1) it proceeds immediately on the heels of the 4th entry, 2) it remains in the same dominant (A Major) tonality as the 4th entry, and 3) the subject and all 3 countersubjects are upside-down!
Inversions like this have been used elsewhere in fugues and lend a certain energy and freshness to the harmony [See blog, Getting Started With Writing, Part VI].
This allows the bass the opportunity to repeat the subject upside down whilst the soprano repeats the 3rd countersubject upside down; meanwhile the 1st and 2nd countersubjects are exchanged in the middle voices (also and tenor).
TIP: DON'T INVERT THE ANSWER. The subject needs time to establish itself right-side up at the outset, and inverting the answer delays this; when inverting the subject is desired in the exposition it would be better saved for a (5th) redundant entry than to invert the answer.
Next there comes the first of several 4 bar episodes between entries; each of these episodes functions as a modulating link to connect the key being left with the key being approached; as such, they can be constructed upon sequences obtained from rhythmic snippets of the subject or countersubjects; for the sake of variety the left hand and right hand parts of these sequences may switch with every bar; this helps to prevent monotony and makes for smooth connections between entries.
The 3rd entry is in the relative key (b minor), the 4th entry in the subdominant relative key (e minor), the 5th entry in the subdominant (G Major), the 6th entry in the subdominant relative
Following another episode of 4 bars the 4th entry is in the subdominant relative key (e minor) where the subject appears again in the bass, the 1st countersubject in the soprano, the 2nd countersubject in the alto, and the free voice switches to the tenor line.
Another 4 bar episode precedes the 5th entry in the subdominant key (G Major) followed by a crescendo to the 6th entry in the dominant relative key (f# minor).
After another episode of 4 bars during which the tempo slows down and the music undergoes another crescendo there is a return to the home key (D Major) where, following many examples left to us by J.S. Bach, the final entry has the subject reentering in the bottom octave of the pedals.
The coda of 5 bars finishes with the full power of the organ in 8 voices employing chromatic inflections, the addition of stops and couplers, and a final chord having the 2nd scale degree (or 9th, if you wish) in the top line and a double pedal having the 3rd scale degree in the right foot.
NOTE: In this coda the high D, E, and F# on the pedalboard are used; if the pedalboard at hand lacks any of these high pedal keys the manuscript will need to be changed "mentally" -- there is nothing wrong with transferring these same notes (which sound pitches in the middle C octave) to the hands, if necessary.
Guided by a separate sheet of paper we can proceed with dispatch in writing a fugue like this; there's nothing that says we have to compose it from 1st note to last, which has to be the hard, long way around.
Once we complete all of the 4 voice entries on the screen in separate "chunks" we can then proceed to connect these chunks like a string of beads with episodic material and watch our Fugue grow right before our eyes -- it seems to assemble itself, like magic [See blog, Ten Steps].
It may come as a surprise that this entire Fugue only took just 5 days to compose this way using a notebook PC and online music writing software (Noteflight).
Someone else can do the same or better.