Renato Matei, Fuga super "Herzlich thut mich verlangen"

This is one of my older counterpointal compositions. I often used "Licenze", that means I neglected some rules because of artistic freedom.

I wrote this when I applied with 17 years for a place as an organ player (like they used to do this in the baroque era; unfortunately an older person got the place).

The structure of the piece bases on the theory of rethoric music in baroque times (see for example Mattheson "Der vollkommene Capellmeister"), that means that the piece has mostly the structure of a classical speech.

Structure:

Exordium "bar" 1- 13: Subject or theme gets presented (Countersubject: Double counterpoint in the octave: Contrapunctus duplex in diapason)

Narratio "bar" 13- 26: The argumentation of the "speech". Augmentation of the subject in the soprano. Cromaticus in the alto and bass part (That means: even if the harmonic foundation gets confused by cromatic melody, the subject is strong and firm against it (subjectum in augmentatione). Now the subject wants to get through all the voices again with the fix countersubjucts from the beginning , but it is interrupted by the Confutatio.

Confutatio "bar" 26-31: Now there are some dissents against our argumentation (not much, because only two "voices" show up). These objections are represented by the inversion of the theme. (Subjectum in motu contrario)

Confirmatio "bar" 31-36: Now the objections get disproved. The argumentation is so elaborate, that all the voices have the same note value (Contrapunctus simplex). This is emphasized by the stretto.

Peroratio "bar" 36-42: The end of the "speech", kind of a resumee. We still have here the Contrapunctus simplex to show the firmness of our opinion (Subject). This again is being emphasized by another, but a different, stretto.

"Bar" 42: Normally the phrygian cadence is a sign for a question. But here not. Its just because our theme is made of the phrygian mode.

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[IldivoRenatello]

@wcbroccoli sorry yes hypoaeolian.. sorry was such a stress yesterday......

yes now i know... i went through Marpurgs "abhandlung von der Fuge"... but this piece is, as I said, quite old.......

[wcbroccoli]

@IldivoRenatello I'd say phrygian. "Mixoaeolian"? The only mode I know that begins with the prefix "mixo" is mixolydian. Maybe you meant hypoaeolian, which is another possibility. But the name of the mode doesn't matter. What does matter is preserving the intervals of the subject while trying to stay within the diatonic system, at least for the 1st exposition. See how Bach handles the phrygian(?) chorale tune "Aus tiefer Not" in his organ chorale preludes BWV 686 and BWV 687. 

[IldivoRenatello]

@IldivoRenatello Maybe this will please you more... less stylistic problems...

[IldivoRenatello]

@wcbroccoli You're right... this was one of my first tries.... but about tonal and modal: the problem is what mode is it? after Mattheson its phrygian, after scheibe mixoaeolian... that`s why I choose to avoid that... Thks for listening though...;-)

[wcbroccoli]

I'm hearing a hodgepodge of 16th c. modal cpt, late Baroque cpt and medieval. The progression b/d# (end of m7) to a/e (m8) instead of e sounds odd. Why do you answer the subject tonally instead of modally? And why so slow? If you want the subject to be that slow, then you should liven up the counterpoints so that the piece doesn't so chordal. My 2 cents. Tks for sharing.