Fugue on the Name of BACH

Description

After becoming a professor at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov set himself to relearn harmony and counterpoint thoroughly on his own, and wrote many fugues along the way. This fugue takes as its subject the four notes B-A-C-H, in German note names B-flat, A, C and B-natural. The motif is known from Bach's own use of it, and Schumann and Liszt later wrote fugues and fantasies on the name as well.

It is in G minor and 4/2. In 4/2 the half note is the beat and there are four to the bar, a metre that recalls the style of older church music. Because the B-A-C-H motif moves by semitones, each entry of the subject brings a chromatic colour. It lasts about two minutes with 622 notes, and the range, from D2 to E5, is just under three octaves, a narrow compass.

Rated advanced, it is hard for one reason above all: with so narrow a range the voices intertwine closely, and the player has to hear which note belongs to which voice and keep them distinct. Follow which hand carries the subject with the hand colours, and lower the playback speed to trace each voice's line. Repeating the subject entries with A-B looping makes the structure easier to grasp. Every note lies within a 61-key keyboard.

Contrapuntal works influenced by Bach, where each composer's individuality shines through a strict formal structure.