Editing Fugue (section)

===Baroque era===

It was in the [[Baroque music|Baroque period]] that the writing of fugues became central to composition, in part as a demonstration of compositional expertise. [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]], [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]], [[Johann Jakob Froberger]] and [[Dieterich Buxtehude]] all wrote fugues.<ref>{{harvnb|Walker|2000|p=165}}</ref>

Fugues were incorporated into a variety of [[musical genre]]s, and are found in most of [[George Frideric Handel]]'s [[oratorio]]s. Keyboard [[suite (music)|suites]] from this time often conclude with a fugal [[gigue]]. [[Domenico Scarlatti]] has only a few fugues among his corpus of over 500 harpsichord sonatas. The [[French overture]] featured a quick fugal section after a slow introduction. The second movement of a [[sonata da chiesa]], as written by [[Arcangelo Corelli]] and others, was usually fugal.

The Baroque period also saw a rise in the importance of [[music theory]]. Some fugues during the Baroque period were pieces designed to teach contrapuntal technique to students.<ref>{{cite book | first = David | last = Schulenberg | title = Music of the Baroque | location = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2001 | page = 243 }}</ref> The most influential text was [[Johann Joseph Fux|Johann Joseph Fux's]] ''[[Gradus ad Parnassum|Gradus Ad Parnassum]]'' ("Steps to [[Parnassus]]"), which appeared in 1725.<ref>{{harvnb|Walker|2000|p=316}}</ref> This work laid out the terms of [[Species counterpoint|"species" of counterpoint]], and offered a series of exercises to learn fugue writing.<ref>{{harvnb|Walker|2000|p=317}}</ref> Fux's work was largely based on the practice of [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]]'s modal fugues.<ref>{{harvnb|Mann|1960|p=53}}</ref> [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] studied from this book, and it remained influential into the nineteenth century. [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], for example, taught counterpoint from his own summary of Fux and thought of it as the basis for formal structure.

Bach's most famous fugues are those for the harpsichord in ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]'', which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue.<ref>{{harvnb|Walker|2000|p=2}}</ref> ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' comprises two volumes written in different times of Bach's life, each comprising 24 prelude and fugue pairs, one for each major and minor key. Bach is also known for his organ fugues, which are usually preceded by a [[prelude (music)|prelude]] or [[toccata]]. [[The Art of Fugue|''The Art of Fugue'', BWV 1080]], is a collection of fugues (and four [[canon (music)|canons]]) on a single theme that is gradually transformed as the cycle progresses. Bach also wrote smaller single fugues and put fugal sections or movements into many of his more general works. J.S. Bach's influence extended forward through his son [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|C.P.E. Bach]] and through the theorist [[Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg]] (1718–1795) whose ''Abhandlung von der Fuge'' ("Treatise on the fugue", 1753) was largely based on J.S. Bach's work.