Page:Fugue by Ebenezer Prout.djvu/247

Chap. XIII.]

435. We not seldom find in fugues written for voices with instrumental accompaniment, that the instrumental parts are, to a greater or less extent, independent of the voice parts, by which latter the fugue is carried on. We are not now speaking of the doubling of voices in the octave above by violins, or other instruments, because mere doubling adds no new parts to the harmony, but of those cases in which either the harmony suggested by the voices is filled up by the instruments, or the latter have independent figures of counterpoint. Such fugues may be described as Accompanied Fugues.

436. In Bach's vocal works, especially in the great Church Cantatas, which deserve to be far better known than they are, we frequently find the first exposition of a fugue accompanied by the basses and organ, the latter filling up the harmony, as in the opening choruses of the cantatas, "Es ist dir gesagt," and "Sehet welch 'eine Liebe" (Nos. 45 and 64 of the Bach Society's edition). Sometimes, as in one or two of the motetts for a double choir, the exposition of a fugue by one choir is accompanied by full harmony for the other.