fugue

noun

ˈfyüg 

1

a

: a musical composition in which one or two themes are repeated or imitated by successively entering voices and contrapuntally developed in a continuous interweaving of the voice parts

The organist played a four-voiced fugue.

b

: something that resembles a fugue especially in interweaving repetitive elements

a story that … is as rich and multilayered as a fugue

—Heather Vogel Frederick

2

: a disturbed state of consciousness in which the one affected seems to perform acts in full awareness but upon recovery cannot recollect the acts performed

fugue verb

fuguist

ˈfyü-gist 

noun

Did you know?

Fugue and Bach

Bach and Handel composed many fugues for harpsichord and organ in which the various parts (or voices) seem to flee from and chase each other in an intricate dance. Each part, after it has stated the theme or melody, apparently flees from the next part, which takes up the same theme and sets off in pursuit. Simple rounds such as "Three Blind Mice" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" could be called fugues for children, but a true fugue can be long and extremely complex.

Examples of fugue in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Even typing out the name Hadrian just now set a sort of fugue in motion. —Geddy Lee, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 2023

Stereophonic is constructed out of those hyper-naturalistic details, with each little frustration along the way to an album building on the next, like a fugue, up to the points when those songs start to come together, the play breaks open and, against all indications, incandescent art comes out. —Vulture, 29 Oct. 2023

Rarely can this ensemble have shaped Schubert’s melodies with such humanity and poignancy, or given such a raw, intense account of the Beethoven fugue. —David Allen, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2023

The quietly ominous rumble at the start of Tesori’s score gives way to a chorus of fliers whose stentorian march morphs into a neo-Baroque fugue. —Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 29 Oct. 2023

Advertisement The adagio, with pulsating string textures and grinding suspensions over dutiful baroque harmonic sequences leads into an aggressive, if academic, fugue. —Luke Schulze, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Oct. 2023

Its rapturous central fugue, its searing sonority and plunging depths were all brought to gleaming life. —Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 24 Sep. 2023

Our survey that evening finished well past midnight, so late that all three of us seemed on the verge of sleep, circling around in an archaeological fugue. —WIRED, 28 Sep. 2023

For something a little more avant-garde, try K. 30, a fugue built on a motif that Scarlatti allegedly heard when his cat strolled across his keyboard. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 25 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

probably from Italian fuga flight, fugue, from Latin, flight, from fugere

First Known Use

1597, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

fugue

noun

ˈfyüg 

: a musical composition in which themes are repeated in complex patterns

fugal

ˈfyü-gəl

adjective

Medical Definition

fugue

noun

ˈfyüg 

: a disturbed state of consciousness in which the one affected seems to perform acts in full awareness but upon recovery cannot recollect them