🇫🇷Charles Camille Saint-Saëns ： Six Fugues No.6 Op.161

This fugue reflects Saint-Saëns’s deep understanding of counterpoint, unfolding as several voices pass the subject from one to another. Following the movement of each voice reveals how the same material overlaps and how the music progresses while maintaining its tension. The presentation and return of the subject, as well as the exchanges between voices, are among its highlights. In performance, it is important to bring out the melodic lines clearly while maintaining a balance that keeps the inner voices from becoming buried. Avoiding an overly rigid pulse and shaping the direction of the smaller movements and the breathing of each phrase will bring a natural flow to the work’s structural design. In practice, singing each voice separately and confirming the subject’s entries and exchanges can be especially helpful.