Understanding fugues

By Vidas Pinkevicius

​There are folks who think that fugue is boring. They are terrified of the wonders that polyphony offers.

They prefer to play and listen to flashy toccatas. Loud and fast is their motto.

Which is fine with me. But the fugue has something in it that no other genre has. It only requires a certain state of mind to appreciate. A willingness to analyze intellectually.

​The best way to appreciate a fugue is to count the number that subjects appear. Noting which voice it is played in is worth too. If you're advanced enough theoretically, you can note the keys of the subjects also.

My friend Jan Karman has spent the last 8 years writing fugues on the melodies of the Genevan psalter. He's just released the first 30 fugues in a separate collection. I spoke with him last summer on the podcast about his passion in writing fugues where he takes us behind the scenes of his method of composition.

Jan's relentless efforts to perfect his craft remind me a certain professor of Fugue at the Paris Conservatory who started his every day by writing a fugue for more than 20 years.

What do you do every day before breakfast?