Schenkerian Analysis of Fugue: A Practical Demonstration

Abstract

Schenkerian pedagogy has received increased attention in recent years, with studies ranging from introductory level topics to those geared toward advanced graduate students. The fugal genre is noticeably absent from these studies, but I suggest that fugal analysis proves beneficial for both introductory and advanced courses in Schenkerian analysis. After introducing a step-by-step method for graphing fugues, I demonstrate the method through detailed discussions of J. S. Bach’s Fugues in D major and F major from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I.