Page:Fugue by Ebenezer Prout.djvu/166

148 and dominant, we have not described the B minor entry as an answer, because it is separated from the next by a short episode.

303. The fourth episode (bars 55 to 59) presents us with the old material—the last notes of the subject sequentially treated in the treble—with new counterpoints for alto and bass. It modulates to A minor, in which key the last middle entry is made by the treble (bars 59 to 65), the alto having the countersubject.

304. The fifth, and last episode (bars 65 to 70), like all the others, shows the last part of the subject in fresh combinations. It leads back to E minor, to introduce the final section of the fugue, which will always be in the key of the tonic. The pause after the half cadence in bar 70 is rather rare in an instrumental fugue, but somewhat more common in a vocal one.

305. One introductory bar after the pause leads to the final entry of the subject (bass) in the tonic key (bars 71 to 77). In some fugues all the voices enter with either subject or answer in the final section. This is especially the case in fugues which have a stretto, a feature which, it will be seen, is wanting in the one now under notice. But in many of the fugues of Bach, the final section contains, as here, only one entry. This is followed by the coda (bars 77 to 86). A coda (Italian = tail) is a passage added at the end of a piece of music to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. Sometimes, as here, it will consist of only a few bars; sometimes, as in many symphonies and sonatas, it will be of considerable length and importance. The chief feature of the present coda is the ornamented dominant pedal (bars 78 to 81); we also, quite exceptionally, find a second pause (bar 83), here on the last inversion of a dominant minor ninth.

306. Another point of importance is illustrated in this coda. In the 83rd and last bars will be seen the introduction of an additional voice. This is often met with at the conclusion of a fugue. Out of the 48 fugues in the 'Wohltemperirtes Clavier' we find such additional parts in sixteen, mostly in approaching the final cadence, but occasionally (e.g., in fugues 35 and 39) earlier in the coda. Let the student examine, as striking examples of this procedure, the last bars of the fugues in A minor (No. 20) and C sharp major (No. 27).

307. We will now tabulate, for future use, the entries of the subject in the fugue just analyzed, noting the succession of keys, and the voice to which each entry is given.