Article: The “fugue phrasée” in the writings and the compositions of Antoine Reicha

Louise BERNARD DE RAYMOND

Agrégée d’éducation musicale, docteure en musicologie et ATER à l’Université Paris-Sorbonne.

Abstract

If Reicha’s fugues and their originalities have been studied in many a musicological paper, the principle of “fugue phrase” (phrasirten Fuge, ‘phrased fugue’)  described in the Traité de haute composition received little attention. The recent publication of the unedited writings of the composer allow a renewed view of his well-known theoretical writings: the present paper first examines the theoretical origins of the principle of “fugue phrase”, from the Philosophish-practische Anmerkungen of the beginning of the century to the major French treatise of 1824. Different works are then analyzed in the light of this principle, which appears to unify Reicha’s corpus of fugues. The question of the interpretation of Reicha’s fugues, viewed in relation to their analysis, is raised through an example from the Quatuor scientifique.