Reflections

This is a massive fugue. It has a long subject that laboriously climbs upward, a steadfast Sisyphus. A countersubject chromatically steps upward with the subject, rests at the top, then carefully climbs down, contrary to the subject which continues ever upward. The entire fugue spins out from this dynamic of opposites: upward, downward, together in parallel, separate, in contrary motion. The layout of subject entries reveals a marvelously balanced plan, bent on apparently resolving these polarities by ultimately fusing them together into a unity, an eventuality destined by the original nature of the subject and countersubject material. Here is the astonishing schematic:

4 subject entries - exposition - with countersubject
4 subject entries - in pairs using stretto
4 subject entries - inverted subject with inverted countersubject
4 subject entries - in pairs of inverted subjects using stretto
4 subject entries - in pairs using stretto, each pair contains the subject and the inverted subject
4 subject entries - in pairs of parallel entries, one pair is the subject, one pair is the inverted subject

This is all clearly revealed in a visualization.

Thank you to Siglind Bruhn for revealing the second countersubject.