Fugue, D-minor

This one took maybe 8 months since the first humming and sketching down of the subject, and presented a number of challenges from which I learned quite a bit. The subject has a pretty distinct head/tail form, initiating ON the dominant V, unfolding to the leading tone and resolving into the tonic i. It proved a fairly tricky shape for me to handle in both technical and musical ways, and several compromises between strict counterpoint and musicality had to be made. More than with any other recent composition, parallel and direct 8ves and 5ths kept creeping in. I think I zapped them all, and while I believe I settled with the most tasteful of propositions available in each case, there may still be some hidden 5ths and 8ves lurking.

To wit, mm27 originally led to mm31 but I just couldn't stand the root-position chord succession between G and A... so I added the G-C leap in the bass and inserted another subject entry in the soprano supported by a-minor harmony. This seems to work for solving the poor middleground harmony; however it caused another issue of which I'll stay mindful and revise in a few months after setting it aside. (I'm sick of working on it at this point.)

The subject's shape did not lend itself to any obvious, stunning stretto solution; though, I did find something serviceable by resorting to the inversion. That formula causes 3 parallel 4ths, thereby necessitating the enterprise to be treated between upper voices in order to abide by a bedrock rule of counterpoint above the bass, and the lower of the two participating voices has to carry the inversion to avoid parallel 5ths...

In any case, these kinds of stretto and inversion fun and games were not my goal with this fugue; instead, I wanted to experiment with a syncopation of the subject which I've never done. That feature I deployed IN []V at the onset of the climax, heralding in a nice chromatic incline in the bass, culminating with a diminished chord (locrian) entry of the subject which evolves into a [vii°]V. From there we go to a deceptive resolution to VI and then back to i with the corresponding melodic progression down to scale-degree 1... and I just couldn't resist the nice, long, feminine cadence.

Lastly, I also tried to keep the subject omnipresent: there are only a few beats here and there (the final cadence withstanding) where it is not sounding.

No ai was used. FUCK ai, and FUCK anyone who uses it.