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A passage between complete statements of the fugue subject, typically based on fragments of the subject or countersubject, used for modulation.
Episodes provide contrast and tonal motion in fugues. Build them from subject fragments in sequence, modulating toward the next key area. Episodes prevent the fugue from becoming monotonous — they give the ear a rest from complete subject statements.
Bach's Fugue in D major, WTC Book I — sequential episodes based on the subject's opening figure modulate smoothly between entries.
Episode is one of 1760 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.
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