Is 2 measures sufficient for a fugue subject?

Question

I know what a fugue is. I also have been reading up on the form of the fugue and how to write in counterpoint. I wrote a canon and I have written a sonatina using sonata form. So theoretically a fugue shouldn't be all that much harder to write, especially with the free counterpoint that makes up the majority of the fugue.\n\nBut I am having trouble starting the fugue. Here is what I have thought out so far:\n\nKey: C minor\n\nBasic harmony of the subject\n\nStarting voice: Soprano\n\nInstrument: Piano\n\nWidest interval without arpeggios: Octave\n\nTempo: Moderato(more specifically, M.M 110)\n\nTime signature: 4/4(at least for now, I might change it later on)\n\nCountersubject?: Yes\n\n Number of voices: 4\n\nOrder of entry: SATB\n\nAnd I have this so far for the subject:\n\nG, F, Eb, D, Eb, D, C, Bb, C, Rest\n\n1, 2, 3 4, 1, +, 2, +, 3, +, 4\n\n2 measures, that's it. I have heard that if you don't have a long enough subject, you won't have the implied harmony you want in a fugue exposition.\n\nSo I looked at diagrams of Bach's fugues to see what the length of the subject is. Turns out, it is usually at least 3 measures long for his WTC fugues. I don't know how long it is for his other fugues though such as the fugue section of Tocatta and Fugue in D minor. But there is only 1 fugue I know of that has a 2 measure long subject. That would be Fugue in C minor WTC book 1, a fugue I am currently leaning along with the prelude(which is full of 16th notes, the prelude is).\n\nAlso, I don't know what to do out of 4 possible answers for the subject. Here they are:\n\n - Real answer without any harmonic minor\n\n - Real answer with harmonic minor\n\n - Tonal answer without harmonic minor\n\n - Tonal answer with harmonic minor\n\n I know the key will determine whether to use a real or tonal answer but I don't know how it does that. I will listen to more fugues by Bach to try to figure out how he develops his relatively short subject into a full fugue.\n\nBut will 2 measures be sufficient for a fugue subject or should I expand my subject to something more like 5 or 7 measures? I mean the longer the subject, the more I can develop the subject and thus the more episodes I can have in a fugue. But too long and you have something more along the lines of a sonata in fugue form.

Answer 1

For a fugue I'd say that 2 measures isn't bad but considering your question and the tone I'm understanding it in I would say to expand on the subject to how ever many measures you want but keep in mind that in the end of a day you have to account for the voices you're writing for and how you're going to apply that imitation with those voices over many measures to explore possibilities. To answer your question. Yes, two measures is just fine for a fugue but it's not enough if you're trying to expand the fugue itself and find different stylistic or tonal uses of a fugue in contemporary music.