Toccata and Fugue in A minor “Caoineadh”

The Toccata and Fugue in A minor subtitled “Caoineadh” (Gaelic for “wailing” pronounced “Quinn-ahk”) was created adding a fugal movement to the Elégiac Prélude in G minor Op 13. The original key of this Elégiac Prélude was transformed to the key of A minor while retaining the 6/8 time signature of the original Prélude. Because the original Prélude consisted of a series of continuous arpeggiated chords in the right hand over a chordal voicing pattern of progressions in the bass and soprano voices, the Prélude was renamed as a Toccata (reflecting the Italian word ”toccare” meaning "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered keyboard movement in the case of the present opus.

The fugue (from the Latin “fuga” from the Latin verbs “fugere” (to flee) or “fugare” (to chase)) as a musical form consists of a short motif initially stated in either the tonic or dominant of the initial key (termed “Subject”) which is followed by an “answer” in the dominant or tonic key in which the “Subject” is restated while a contrapuntal “answer” of the motive in one or more alternative voice (tonic or dominant) to the initial starting voice occurs (“Countersubject”). The fugue may then repeat the subject back in the tonic or dominant voice if a three voice fugue and if a four voice fugue the subject is repeated in the alternate voice and so forth.

The fugal form undergoes development with fragments of the subject and countersubject melodies. Repetition of the fugue motifs are punctuated by one or more Episodes and the fugue frequently ends in a “Stretto” (from the Italian meaning “narrow” or “tight”) in which the subject occurs in one voice while being imitated in other voices before the original voice has finished, in effect cascading on top of one another.

The fugal movement, in the current opus 48, with a 4/4 time signature, employs a 4 bar motif. The current fugue consists of a three voice pattern and employs three episodes along with a stretto interleaved with repetition of the fugal motif. In keeping with the practices of Bach and the Baroque period concludes with an A Major chord created as a “Tierce de Picardie” or Picardy Third.

The piece was written from 28 March 2020 to 26 October 2020.