Shostakovich and Bach: On the fugue subjects of omnitonal macrocycles (scale-system characteristics)
Abstract
This article continues the study published in the previous issue of Contemporary Musicology (2026, 10/2), which was primarily devoted to an intonational comparison of the fugue subjects in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 87 and the two volumes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as to the explicit and implicit melodic and structural connections between them. The present article focuses on issues concerning modality and scale-degree organization in Shostakovich’s subjects, since factors related to mode and, more broadly, modality play a structuring role in his fugues. Significant divergences between Shostakovich’s and Bach’s subjects—regarding their preferential use of simple or compound meters, tempo-rhythmic or pitch transformations, wide or medium subject ranges, and varied or stable modal characteristics—do not answer the question of which specific aspect of compositional technique most clearly reveals the historical-stylistic differences between 18th- and 20th-century fugues. A paradoxical answer emerges from those fugue subjects in Opus 87 that conclude with the tonic on a weak beat: the absence of convincing closure leaves the subject context-dependent, prompting it to undergo substantial transformations and development and to acquire new qualities. This suggests a new artistic meaning of the fugue in the 20th century.
Keywords: Dmitri Shostakovich, Johann Sebastian Bach, 24 Preludes and Fugues, Opus 87, The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC), fugue subject, subject range (ambitus), modal structure of the subject, subject transformations, meter
For citation: Yuzhak, K. I. (2026). Shostakovich and Bach: On the fugue subjects of omnitonal macrocycles (scale-system characteristics). Contemporary Musicology, 10(3), 10–43. https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-3-010-043References
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/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-3-010-043
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