We love Bach’s fugues.
There are many reasons why: the intricate counterpoint, the elegant development, the subtle diminutions, the harmony—so dissonant and sweet at the same time—and those magical, unexpected moments.
But among all these elements, one stands above the rest:
the subject.
❓ Is there a method for writing a great fugue subject?
Yes.
There are many techniques—but one of the most effective is a three-part model:
Engage – Explain – Engage
This approach comes from HCE’s strategic communication model called E³ (E-cubed), which I’ve adapted to music.
Because music, like any language, only works if it’s built with structure.
Let’s not forget:
Bach and other German composers studied Latin and rhetoric.
Bach owned a copy of Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria, recently translated into German in his time.
He understood how persuasive speech works.
🎓 And this is where Aristotle helps us:
Every effective discourse (and thus every good fugue subject) contains three phases:
Ethos – how you present yourself and earn trust
Pathos – how you emotionally engage your listener
Logos – how you conclude with logic and coherence
Let’s explore each one.
⚡ Engage: Win the Listener’s Attention (Ethos)
In this first phase, your goal is to grab the listener’s attention instantly and signal:
“This fugue is going to be beautiful. Pay attention!”
This is the Ethos phase: the tone, the style, the first impression.
In musical terms, it means crafting a subject with strong identity.
How?
By using simple but powerful patterns, such as:
Do–Re–Mi
Sol–Fa–Mi
The Meyer schema and its “siblings”: Jupiter, Pastorella, April
A cadence
A sudden leap or dissonant motion
The goal is to trigger adrenaline, the neurotransmitter of attention.
It’s the same one that kicks in when:
You hear someone scream in the dark 😱
You receive a million dollars out of nowhere 💸 (less common, sadly)
A boring subject = a boring fugue.
A brilliant subject prepares the brain for beauty.
This isn’t just poetic—it’s neuroscience.
🧠 3 Cognitive Biases That Are Activated Instantly:
Priming Effect
The brain processes information in the order it receives it.
A strong subject makes the whole fugue feel stronger.Halo Effect
If the subject is beautiful, the brain assumes everything that follows will be too.
“If he’s great at this, he’s probably great at the rest.”- Confirmation Bias
The brain looks for evidence to support its first impression.
A weak subject makes us notice flaws.
A strong one makes us overlook them.
(And let’s not get into selective hearing—or should we say selective deafness? That’s another story.)
🎻 Explain: Tell a Story (Pathos)
This is the narrative phase of the subject.
After grabbing the listener’s attention, now it’s time to take them on a journey.
Here we enter the realm of Pathos—emotional connection.
How?
By using sequences and progressions that create expressive, singing motion:
3 down 2 up
Quintfall (5 down, 4 up)
Tied Bass
Prinner
Other rhetorical, flowing patterns
The result is a dreamlike, floating feeling—perfect for stimulating oxytocin and serotonin, which calm the initial adrenaline rush.
This neurochemical shift lowers rational thinking and increases emotional receptivity.
In short:
👉 The listener stops thinking and starts feeling.
👉 You—the composer—are now leading their inner experience.
♻️ Exchange: Close the Statement (Logos)
This is the final section of the subject.
It must transition smoothly into the answer, countersubject, or free voices.
Here we enter Logos—structure, logic, coherence.
The subject won’t end on the submediant (vi)—that would be awkward.
It almost always concludes on:
The tonic (I)
The dominant (V)
Or, occasionally, the subdominant (IV)
But more importantly:
👉 The closing figures should reflect and develop what came before.
👉 You’re not starting over—you’re concluding an idea.
This final section prepares the ear for imitation and development.
It’s the moment where style, logic, and expectation align.
🎬 And now… let’s see it in action!
In the video below, I show you how Bach used all three phases—Engage, Explain, Exchange—in the subject of the Gigue (which is a fugue!) from the Partita in D major for harpsichord.
Then we’ll compose a brand-new subject together, step by step, using the same model.
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