Reflections

This fugue is highly saturated by its subject which stands out from the surrounding counterpoint in bold relief. Its clarity lies in the drama of its two-part nature. The first is a severe gesture which swoops from the middle of the scale down to the tonic, sinking darkly to "crouch" on the leading tone before resolving. The latent potential energy is heavy and must be released by the second gesture whose faster step wise motion springs from tension into action, launching the momentum of ensuing fugue. With frequent, clear subject entries and the intensification of stretto in multiple locations, one almost feels relentlessly "bombarded" by the subject. With its dramatic gestures, its brisk temp, and its dark minor mode, this fugue is intense, exciting, almost stinging.

The fugue features a very persistent countersubject It is easy to hear since it begins precisely where the subject "stalls": on the quarter note which checks the onslaught of the preceding 16th notes. Every subject entry but the first and the last is set against this countersubject. And the countersubject always appears at the same point. As Altschuler observes, this is precisely the same point where, during stretto, additional subject entries appear as well. He underlines that in addition to the rhythmic pause, there is a powerful melodic and harmonic tension generated as well. It is the effect of the leading tone.

The leading tone is the 7th degree of the scale which is unstable and psychologically "leads", as its name implies, our musical expectations upward right back to the 1st degree (the tonic). Because of the combined force of the rhythmic "pause" (the note is held) and the melodic tension (the leading tone), the subject exposes an ideal opening for a new voice, whether it diverges into a countersubject or echoes with a new entry of the subject itself in stretto.