Fugues
Although Handel does not exhibit this same freedom to manipulate his ideas as Bach, when analyzing Handel’s fugues, it became evident that his primary method of development was over-lapping the few fixed ideas he used, e.g. subjects and counter-subjects, with each other. He would write them playing them in close proximity, navigating through related keys. This creates many moments of ‘stretto’ 16 (when the subject is imitated in close succession so that the answer enters before the subject is completed), making the majority of his development harmony-oriented, as he fits his ideas together in many keys. This can be seen in his ‘Fugue no.6 in C minor’ (HWV610) ; see Figure 8.
Figure 9: Excerpt from Bach’s ‘Toccata & Fugue in D minor’ (BWV565) showing imitation of the subject (brown) and countersubject 1 (dark blue).
Finally, a method of development that both composers use is imitation. This is when a fixed idea that has previously been played, for example the subject, is played in a slightly altered way but retains its original character. This allows the composers to develop ideas by changing certain qualities about them, such as rhythms, pitches, direction or length. Good examples can be found throughout both
Figure 10: Excerpt from Handel’s ‘Fugue no.6 in C minor’ (HWV610) where he develops the answer through imitation (green).
16 Anonymous, 2020. Stretto . [online] En.wikipedia.org. Available at: < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretto> [Accessed 13 August 2020].
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