I have prepared a video for today's class, during which we will explore double fugue. In order to have you listen to a recording before I go through an example, I've decided that using a website like this offers the best solution.
So, here's the way the class will go:
1) Watch the embedded video below, which provides an introduction to double fugue.
2) Listen to / watch the video of Handel's "He smote all the first-born of Egypt" before you start to watch the video I prepared, which will allow you to follow a score and experience a good performance.
3) Now, watch the video embedded below. In the video, I take you step-by-step through the Handel double fugue.
You may download a copy of the score, analyzed in color, by clicking here or going to the handouts page, and the same for a diagram of the piece, click here or go to handouts page.
4) You might want to watch the Handel with score again before going on.
5) Now, watch the video embedded below, of Bach's Fugue 4 from Well-Tempered Clavier I. It's a piece I once had the class analyze, an amazing fugue with a lot of complications. I believe it is a little too difficult for use as an analysis project, and after watching the video, you'll probably agree! I'd call it a double fugue, though some call it a triple fugue. As a fugue with separate expositions for two subjects, it would qualify for purists' definition of double fugue. The Handel analyzed in my video would be considered a fugue with two subjects by purists.
