Was Bach
Unduly Binary?

It may seem so considering Bach's majestic Fugue in Ebm (Volume 1, No. 8) which has several unusual characteristics:

• First, the Fugue's subject starts right on the first beat rather than shortly after it, as Bach's fugues usually do.
• Moreover, it is clear, listening to the subject, that it is composed of two similar phrases, each of a three 1/2-note length. However, the Fugue was written in 4/4 time and each phrase is therefore a bar and a half long, which seems to indicate that the bars should also be of a three 1/2-note length, thus in 3/2 time.
• Also, in order to end on a first beat, these phrases should all start on the second beat. In other words, instead of starting shortly after the first beat, say an 1/8 note after the first beat, as in the Fugue in G minor, Vol. 1, No. 16 (and the Fugue in D major, Vol 2, No. 5), as Bach usually does, it would start a little later (a complete 1/2 note after the first beat).

In such a large level ternary grouping, might it not have been convenient for Bach to place it in the catch-all, convenient bars of 4/4, as he did for his Aria in the Suite in D (commonly known as the "Air For The G-string") which also starts with a three-1/2-note phrase?

What would the fuguelook (and sound)like if it were written in the 3/2 time of its subject?

Check it out. Have a look, listen, compare, and tell us what you think.

More On This
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