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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 228 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary, where every definition is written around how composers actually use the word.
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