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So You Want to Write a Fugue?

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Wikipedia article




"'So You Want to Write a Fugue?'" is a satirical composition for four voices and string quartet or four voices and piano accompaniment.Glenn Gould: 'So You Want to Write a Fugue?' New York: Schirmer, 1964, S. 2. It was composed by the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould and was a final piece for the television show ', which was broadcast on March 4, 1963 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Context



The work is the result of Goulds intense study of the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, in particular Bach's late work 'The Art of Fugue', excerpts of which Gould had recorded in 1962. Structurally the piece is modeled on just such a Bach Fugue. The text, however, was written on the subject "So you want to write a fugue?" Both the text and the music are parodies of the rules and compositional techniques of the genre, as well as the relationship between intellectual methods and artistic intuition in the creative process (e.g., "Just forget the rules, and write one"). Lyrically, the 5-minute piece concludes tongue-in-cheek with the decision to "write a fugue right now!" The piece contains numerous quotes from various works of classical music, including the famous sequence of notes 'B-A-C-H', the Second Brandenburg Concerto by J. S. Bach, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nrnbergcf. (altered from major mode to minor).

Text



"So you want to write a fugue?

You've got the urge to write a fugue

You've got the nerve to write a fugue

So go ahead and write a fugue that we can sing

Pay no heed to what we've told you

Give no mind to what we've told you

Just forget all that we've told you

And the theory that you've read

For the only way to write one

Is just to plunge right in and write one

So just forget the rules and write one

Have a try, yes, try to write a fugue

So just ignore the rules and try

And the fun of it will get you

And the joy of it will fetch you

It's a pleasure that is bound to satisfy

So why not have a try?

You'll decide that John Sebastian

Must have been a very personable guy

But never be clever for the sake of being clever

For a canon in inversion is a dangerous diversion

And a bit of augmentation is a serious temptation

While a stretto diminution is an obvious solution

Never be clever for the sake of being clever

For the sake of showing off

It's rather awesome, isn't it?

And when you've finished writing it

I think you'll find a great joy in it (hope so)

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, they say

But still it is rather hard to start

Well, let us try

Right now? (yes, why not)

We're going to write a fugue

We're going to write a good one

We're going to write a fugue right now!


Publications



* Glenn Gould: 'So You Want to Write a Fugue?' New York: Schirmer, 1964.

Discography



* 'The Glenn Gould Edition: Gould, Schostakowitsch, Poulenc', Scl (Sony BMG), 1997.

* 'The Glenn Gould Silver Jubilee Album', Scl (Sony BMG), 1998.

References



Literature



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Category:1963 songs

Category:Glenn Gould

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