Feline friends feted with a fugue…
When one juggles multiple pursuits like I do, it happens somewhat regularly that I get so busy, I can’t compose. It is a matter of available time to an extent, but it’s really more about available energy and brain space. So, in the last couple of months I got very busy and I haven’t composed a new note since sometime in September (I still have done plenty of editing and even more of part extraction/formatting). Now, creative activities are sort of like physical exercise—when you stop doing it, it’s not so easy to get back into it. One way I found that works for me is getting back in shape by writing counterpoint exercises. Not my original idea, Brahms is reported to do just that when inspiration was slow to come. Since I became serious about composition around 12 years ago, there had been one extended break—I couldn’t compose a note following 2016 US elections for about six months. It just seemed pointless like so many other things did at the time.
Anyway, the first thing I wrote as I was slowly coming out of that funk was a fugue and working on it helped me to get back to my abandoned pursuits and finish what became my cantata Ars Moriendi. My latest break from composition hasn’t been as long (about 2 months) and the reason had nothing to do with emotional trauma; rather, I got too busy with the opera production I was conducting and with a surprise submission deadline (details of both endeavors are forthcoming in future posts).
So, to get my engine started again, I wrote a fugue. The subject I used is not mine, but rather is a transcription of the notes, played on the piano by a cat belonging to the composer and orchestration guru Thomas Goss, who runs the website Orchestration Online, (https://orchestrationonline.com/) as well as highly popular Facebook group by the same name. I was fortunate to work with Thomas in one-on-one setting and any music student serious about orchestration will be served well by subscribing to Thomas’ website, his Patreon, Facebook group or all of the above.
Back to the fugue—apparently, Thomas’ cat played a few notes during one of his sessions posted online, and one of the followers transcribed them and posted it in the Facebook group (see the transcription at the top of the post). It struck me immediately that with a few small adjustments this fragment would make an excellent fugue subject, so when I decided it was time to return to composition, I used it as the subject for a fugue below. Hope you enjoy!