Fugue for Friday ("Dragnet Fugue")

A fugue based on the Dragnet theme, accompanied by scrolling bar-graph and conventional scores. Composed by Stephen Malinowski in 1975, performed by The New Esterházy Quartet (Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violins, Anthony Martin, viola, and William Skeen, violoncello) on December 16, 2007; the theme of that concert's program was "Haydn's Fugues"; this was played as an encore.

FAQ

Q: Can I get the sheet music for this piece?
A: Yes, here are score and parts for string quartet ...
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayOpenScore.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayViolinI.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayViolinII.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayViola.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayVioloncello.pdf
... here are parts for recorder quartet ...
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridaySopranoRecorder.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayAltoRecorder.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayTenorRecorder.pdf
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayBassRecorder.pdf
... and here's a piano transcription ...
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/FugueForFridayKeyboard.pdf

Q: Where can I learn more about The New Esterházy Quartet?
A: Here:
http://www.newesterhazy.org

Q: What does the title mean?
A: The theme of this fugue was first used by composer Miklós Rózsa in the soundtrack for the 1946 film The Killers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg9_zhDZGbA
It was later borrowed by Walter Schumann for use as the theme of the Dragnet radio (and, later, television) drama (which is where I first heard it):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragnet_(series)
Shortly after I wrote the fugue (in 1975), I sent a copy of the score to Peter Schickele (who I thought would be amused by it):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schickele
and he suggested the name "Fugue for Friday" (as a reference to Dragnet's main character, Sergeant Joe Friday). But maybe I should have called it "Killer Fugue."

Q: It seems like the two scores don't match exactly; is that a mistake?
A: Yes and no; the conventional score is one version, which is somewhat different from what the performers had, and the performers also made some changes (which I tried to reflect in the bar-graph score).

Q: Is there a way I could make bar-graph scores myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate a display similar to this; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• malinowski
• fugue
• friday
• dragnet
• theme
• counterpoint
• funny
• dum-da-dum-dum

[PauloZappi]

I think there is a quarter rest missing at the end of the first bar of the viola score. Nice work!

[smalin]

@PauloZappi Ooops, you're right. I wonder how that happened.

[pmchsaini]

Who wrote this piece?

[smalin]

@pmchsaini Me (see the FAQ).

[morganhbk]

reminds me of the inspector gadget theme song :P

[Hazelrat10]

"A: I wrote this fugue in 1975"

Wow! Did you really?

[Shine860530]

wow, that was simply impressive

[bfandreasyt]

This is geeky, dorky and quite, quite wonderful.

Good fun!

[VicodinAddicted]

very good

[thatwhichidesire]

Man, don't be offended but you look like Lars Ulrich :)

[kalsikum]

Nice compostion! Wish i could write music like you...

[smalin]

@whythewar1  When I started working for a living, I didn't have time to focus on music composition, so I stuck with performance and visualization.