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213. Though we occasionally meet with fugues in which the subject or answer is almost continuously present, a striking and well-known example being the first fugue in the 'Wohltemperirtes Clavier,' it is generally advisable to give variety to the composition by the introduction of episodes. An Episode, is that part of a fugue in which for a time neither subject nor answer is heard. In the majority of cases the reappearance of the subject attracts more attention and excites more interest, if it has been absent for a while.

214. There is another important purpose also served by the episode. So long as subject and answer continue to enter (as in the exposition) at the distance of a fourth or fifth from one another, it is clear that we shall not get away from the tonic and dominant keys; and although in the middle section of a fugue we often find entries at other distances than the fourth and fifth, it is frequently more convenient to effect the modulations by means of episode than to do so by varying the distances of entry, which would sometimes necessitate more or less important changes in the form of the subject itself. How modulations can be made during an episode will be seen presently.

215. The student must be careful to distinguish between an episode and the codetta spoken of in the last chapter. When a codetta appears between the second and third entries in the exposition, it often has much the same character as an episode; the difference is, that the former appears in the course of the exposition, and the first episode never till its close. This will be clearly seen from the following example, in which the codetta and the first episode are composed of nearly the same material.