Louise BERNARD DE RAYMOND, The “fugue phrasée” in the writings and the compositions of Antoine Reicha

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.