Fugue retrograde

1. What is retrograde in fugue?
2. What does retrograde mean in music?
3. What is a fugue in the Baroque period?

What is retrograde in fugue?

A melodic line that is the reverse of a previously or simultaneously stated line is said to be its retrograde or cancrizans ("walking backward", medieval Latin, from cancer, crab). An exact retrograde includes both the pitches and rhythms in reverse.

What does retrograde mean in music?

Retrograde inversion is a musical term that literally means "backwards and upside down": "The inverse of the series is sounded in reverse order." Retrograde reverses the order of the motif's pitches: what was the first pitch becomes the last, and vice versa.

What is a fugue in the Baroque period?

A fugue is a piece of music that uses interwoven melodies based on a single musical idea. Fugues were most popular during the Baroque Period, ca. 1600-1750. They were based on an earlier idea from the Renaissance Period called imitative polyphony, where multiple singers would sing the same melody at different times.