ABSTRACT
J. S. Bach’s inventions afford an excellent introduction to the fugue since these genres share many features. A fugue is a composition born of imitative counterpoint, usually containing a fixed number of voices—most often three or four. In it, a theme, called a subject, is stated at the outset by a single unaccompanied voice, followed by a restatement or imitation in each of the voices in turn. A tonal answer generally occurs for one of these reasons: the subject ends on the tonic at its completion; the 5th scale degree is prominent near the beginning of the subject; the subject modulates to the dominant. The tonal level at the end of a subject or answer often determines what follows. A bridge is a short passage that modulates from the end of an answer to the next subject announcement. A link is a short passage that modulates from the end of a subject to an answer.
