fugue explained
A contrapuntal composition in which a subject is introduced in one voice and then imitated by subsequent voices according to strict principles
In Depth
The fugue begins with the subject stated alone in one voice. A second voice enters with the answer (the subject transposed to the dominant), while the first voice continues with a countersubject. Additional voices enter in turn. After the exposition, the fugue develops through episodes (modulatory passages), stretto (overlapping entries), augmentation, diminution, and inversion of the subject. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier contains 48 fugues that explore virtually every possibility of the form.
Bach's Art of Fugue was left incomplete at his death — the final fugue breaks off mid-sentence, and scholars have debated for 275 years whether he intended a completion.