Shostakovich and Bach: On the fugue subjects of omnitonal macrocycles

Kira I. Yuzhak

Abstract


Opus 87 was composed by Shostakovich in the mid-twentieth century under the profound impression of Bach’s music. On the one hand, it demonstrates an aspiration to strictly adhere to the traditions and norms of the Baroque—primarily Bachian—fugue; on the other hand, it reveals that the intention to “do as Bach did” is usually realized in a fundamentally non-Bachian manner. While the fugues in the two volumes of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier are constructed in different ways, those in Shostakovich’s Op. 87 are built according to a single compositional type, even though the fugue subjects across all three macrocycles are highly varied. The reasons for this should be sought in the specific features of musical language and compositional technique. This paper offers a comparative study of the fugue subjects in all three macrocycles. The analysis reveals notable discrepancies across several parameters. The first group of differences concerns the temporal sphere: in Shostakovich’s fugues, the subjects are associated with relatively rigid meters—simple and non-traditional odd (asymmetric) time signatures, whereas Bach’s fugues lean toward compound meters. Among melodic transformations, Shostakovich prioritizes tempororhythmic ones: strict and free augmentation/diminution, including proportional canons. In terms of pitch ranges (ambituses) and modal structures, Shostakovich’s subjects exhibit greater diversity than those of Bach. The interaction of harmony and syntax in Shostakovich’s subjects frequently causes them to terminate on a weak beat, thereby rendering the issue of tonal answer irrelevant. Most importantly, the conclusion of a fugue subject on a strong or weak metric position can indicate opposing concepts of the subject, the fugue, and the overall artistic meaning of the musical form. The convincingly self-contained subject of a Bach fugue remains resistant to transformation and, after various trials, can be reaffirmed in its primary form. Conversely, the subject of a Shostakovich fugue, being open to the vicissitudes of the context, often undergoes significant eventual modifications.

Keywords: Dmitri Shostakovich, Johann Sebastian Bach, Op. 87, The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC), 24 Preludes and Fugues, compositional type of fugue, fugue subject, transformations of the fugue subject

For citation: Yuzhak, K. I. (2026). Shostakovich and Bach: On the fugue subjects of omnitonal macrocycles. Contemporary Musicology, 10(2), 11–44. https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-2-011-044

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-2-011-044

Copyright (c) 2026 Kira I. Yuzhak

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