triple fugue

noun

Music.

1. a fugue with a subject and two countersubjects developed simultaneously.

2. a fugue with three subjects that are developed at first successively and finally together.

Word History and Origins

Origin of triple fugue¹

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Stevenson’s massive, craggy score, mostly written in 1961, includes wildly diverse pieces: strangely playful dances, brutal marches, brooding ruminations, frenzied fantasies, diabolical études, all building to a triple fugue.

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On the first were four selections from Book II of “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” starting with the intricate triple fugue of the F-sharp-minor pairing through to the fluid stream of notes of the prelude in B. Although Goode sounded a little hesitant in a few places, his touch slightly rough, the lines in this prelude spooled from his fingers like oil.

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She singled out the thorny Contrapunctus 11, a triple fugue that, she said, can pose something of a crisis for performer and listener alike.

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The Prelude and Fugue were a suitable inclusion on a program of five-part works, said Mr. Stein — who offered a stirring performance — because of its five-voice triple fugue.

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