Fugue No 3 in C-Sharp Major, BWV 848 - three voices
This fugue's theme features the interval of the 6th very prominently, which is strongly linked to the overall feeling of exuberance and joy that the music expresses.
The three fugue subjects are introduced from top to bottom and they never overlap (no stretto). No other techniques, such as augmentation, diminution, or inversion are applied to the fugue theme. One of the striking structural characteristics of the piece is the extended episode - music based on fragments of the theme, used in imitation, usually for modulation - between bars 29 and 40. One of the key features of this episode is the imitative exchange of three note fragments between voices with running 16th notes in the third voice.
