Your Recorder Community

More like a fugal sketch than a complete fugue, this piece nonetheless embodies some of my favorite compositional techniques: imitation, voice exchanges, and overlaid rhythms. I especially enjoy the opening 24 measures, which comprise a self-contained Exposition. The Subject has a real Answer, and Countersubject ideas are introduced that permeate the rest of the piece. After the Exposition, the resemblance to a fugue diminishes and the music becomes more like a chaconne, exploring melodies against one another over a vaguely implied ground bass. The only entry of the Subject outside the Exposition is in the Bass, at measure 61, reminding us of the fugal beginning.