Very dark, but very nice music. I didn't notice anything in it, though, that particularly sounded to my ears like a fugue. It does have some counterpoint going on, however, as would be the case with one, which is possibly what struck you as sounding fugue-like.
Yes, I was comparing the voices with the guitars, and maybe there is something going on with in the guitars, also. I didn't know if I had the correct terminology.
So a fugue is like a melody running in parallel?
Multiple melodies do move simultaneously (or in "counterpoint") within a fugue. That by itself doesn't necessarily make a piece a fugue, though. A fugue has, at minimum, the kind of imitation I described in my post above going on between its voices. Note that the imitation of the first voice by the second, third, etc. voices that enter the fugue is usually not sustained throughout the entire piece. Usually, there are a great many parts of a fugue where the voices cease to mimic each other and move with relative freedom. A piece where the imitation is perpetual is called a canon. Canons can double as fugues but in practice only do so very rarely.
I know they come in D major. Canons.
There would generally be a mix of the two in most fugues and canons. At times, all of the voices would be heard playing simultaneously; at other times, some of the voices, perhaps even all but one of them, would drop out for a time... Of course, it should be noted that the two--pure harmony and individually discernible melodies--aren't mutually exclusive. One can still to a certain extent make out individual melodies when many voices are playing simultaneously, especially when the harmonies and melodies are well-constructed as they usually are in pieces by great contrapuntalists like J. S. Bach.
Right, especially if they are perfect fourths or fifths, I'm guessing? Thirds are like a weaker harmony, if I remember right.
Thirds (and their inversion, sixths) are "imperfect consonances," which means they reside in a middle ground between dissonances (seconds, tritones, and sevenths) and perfect consonances (perfect fourths, perfect fifths, unisons, and octaves). Their middling level of consonance makes them usually preferable, especially in two-note harmony, to dissonances and perfect consonances, the reason being that imperfect consonances are neither harsh like dissonances nor excessively peaceful-sounding like perfect consonances. They have just the right level of "spiciness" to keep the music flowing smoothly. Of course, a good composer doesn't use them exclusively (particularly not when writing for 3 or more voices, where it becomes difficult to avoid using perfect consonances frequently)--just preferentially.
Wait, tritones are considered dissonant? That's a surprise to me.
Yes, they are. In fact, they're often considered the harshest, most unstable-sounding interval of all. Are you sure you're not confusing tritones with minor or major thirds? C and F# make a tritone; C and D# make a minor third; C and E make a major third.
I'm thinking a 1,3,5 chord.
Haha, I love this song. I like the almost lonesome wistfulness to it.
