In general, do you like music written in fugue form?

Oh yes!

I especially like shape note music in fugue form!

Definitely. the form could be ascribed to Mancini, and Robert Fripp is the ultimate. Each new note is it's own voice which creates an interplay with all that preceded it. In his frippertronics, a near continuous loop allows a melody to constantly evolve in a fashion that the context of prior melody contributing voice/notes evolves as well. And if you can hold the entire piece in your head you have quite a piece. My mom on the other head didn't even realise the piece was changing because she was only in the moment I guess.

That explanation doesn't seem to match Tocatta in Fugue. I'm confused. Is there something I'm missing? First, is your word 'voice' interchangable with instruments other than the human voice? And second, does your word 'theme' represent a particular melodic structure within the piece, or an actual plot theme represented by the singers' words? I know Bach did a lot of secular stuff, but it's not like I can tell what the hell they're saying!

I tend to like Rondos better. Preludes are nice too.

This question is too complicated for those who don't know what fugue is. One can't read a definition about a musical style to understand it, music must be heard. I have neither the time nor the inclination to educate myself on this topic simply to check a "yes" or "no" answer.

Good explanation and options.

Consider 'Heart and Soul'. The bass line is one voice that is like an elf hop/marching from river rock to river rock. The treble line is a voice like a fairy hopping from flower to flower on the river bank. Jazz improvisation (jamming) is based on multiple voices. In the classical works, voices are not only different personalities, but practically different physics. There are cool things in music like grüngestalt too. Thats when an umbrella meta-melody is formed by accented peaks of a single or a collision of multiple melodies.

Yes, but more likely that really bad fugues don't get recorded very often, making the chance for me to hear one fairly slim. My favourite is J.S. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV-565".

The fugue has some terminology that is particular to the form. When speaking of fugues, the term "voice" applies to melodic strands. It doesn't necessarily mean "instrument", for example an organ fugue is played on one (polyphonic) instrument, yet may have several "voices".

The word "theme" or "subject" is a little scrap of melody, which all of the "voices" kind of muck about with...again different from how the term is applied to sonata form (or literature for that matter).

I hope that helps to clear things up a bit.

What? I was too colorfully cryptic or something?

I agree with you. I also like it very much, well if I didn't listen to it so much, and got so sick of it, I would still be able to listen to it. Do you like Bach's The Art of the Fugue?

No. You explained it one way, I explained it another. Between the two of us, hopefully we answered his question.

I'm not very familiar with it.

It's wonderful. I really like it. You should listen to it.

...and Zang...
Got it. I figured as much.

Huh? Whaaas that?

I believe this is all a matter of taste. I like good music, no matter what form it's in.

I've been whistling most of my pop music into a fugue lately.

I like contemporary music. And if that bothers you then you can go and FUGUE yourself!

FUGUE TOO!!!

Yes.
But sometimes, it annoys me when the form doesn't follow the strict pattern.

No, I find fugue an easy way to write when you have no idea. I do like Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor, but it's really rare for me to like something like that.

Have you ever listened to Robert Fripp's solo work? and are 'you' familar with grüngestalt.

No, I never heard for Robert Fripp. Should I check him out?

Most definitely. He was considered one of rock's top 20 guitarists, but only a classical mind could understand his work. He was a member of King Crimson which was huge in it's time, then moved into works with Brian Eno, then Andy Summers. "Exposure" and "God save the queen" are good albums. He invented something called Frippertronics which is an interactive tape loop system. Some people don't even recognize the music is changing, but with each layered pass of the loop new tone-textures arrive while others fade off the lead of the trail in such a fashion that the context of the entire passage evolves. Far less complex, but reminiscent of Fripps mood is the impressionist composer Eric Satie (both work atonally without a key center).