Loading…
Loading…
A recurring melodic line that accompanies the fugue subject in counterpoint, typically appearing whenever the subject or answer enters.
A countersubject must work in invertible counterpoint with the subject — it should sound good both above and below the subject. Give it a contrasting rhythmic profile: if the subject uses long notes, the countersubject should use shorter notes, and vice versa.
Bach's Fugue in C minor, WTC Book I — the flowing sixteenth-note countersubject provides rhythmic contrast to the measured subject.
Countersubject is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
Browse the full dictionary →