Fugue No. 6 in G-Sharp Minor

Abstract

Fugue No. 6 in G-Sharp Minor is the sixth installment in a series of preludes and fugues for the piano. Initially, the series was meant to showcase the composer’s understanding of traditional baroque forms as well as the essential techniques of common practice counterpoint. However, having completed several such studies, to varying degrees of success, it was time to explore the fugue as a genre outside of the strict rules dating back to the eighteenth century. This line of thought inspired Fugue No. 6, and the result is a piece of music that combines some of the formal necessities of a fugue with a more strict adherence to the integrity of individual melodic lines in each of the four voices, and a commitment to the chromatic and often dissonant harmonies that the combination of these lines may produce. Despite containing sonorities that can be definitively described as contrary to the goals of the Baroque period, there are still several instances in Fugue No. 6 where Baroque-era processes are deployed. Such techniques include melodic and harmonic sequence and cadential figures, as well as techniques specific to the genre including fugue exposition, augmentation and diminution, fragmentation, and stretto. The synthesis of these techniques with the chromatic and often harmonically ambiguous nature of the music is the primary goal of this composition