st symphony and C
minor quartet, or the first and second subjects of the finale of
Mozart's G major quartet, the second subject of the finale of his D
major quintet, and the exposition of quintuple counterpoint in the coda
of the finale of the _Jupiter Symphony_, and countless other passages in
the developments and main subjects of classical and modern works in
sonata form. The ordinary use of the term implies an adherence to a
definite set of rules quite incompatible with the sonata style, and
therefore inapplicable to these passages, and at the same time equally
devoid of real connexion with the idea of fugue as understood by the
great masters of the 16th century who matured it. In the musical
articles in this Encyclopaedia we shall therefore speak of writing "in
fugue" as we would speak of a poet writing in verse, rather than weaken
our descriptions by the orthodox epithet of "loose _fugato_."

_3. Counterpoint on a Canto Fermo._

The early practice of building polyphonic designs on a voice-part
confined to a given plain-song or popular melody furnishes the origin
for every contrapuntal principle that is not canonic, and soon develops
into a canonic principle in itself. When the _canto fermo_ is in notes
of equal length and is sung without intermission, it is of course as
rigid a mechanical device as an acrostic. Yet it may have artistic value
in furnishing a steady rhythm in contrast to suitable free motion in the
other parts. When it is in the bass, as in Orlando di Lasso's six-part
_Regina Coeli_, it is apt to cramp the harmony; but when it is in the
tenor (its normal place in 16th-century music), or any other part, it
determines little but the length of the composition. It may or may not
appeal to the ear; if not, it at least does no harm, for its restricting
influence on the harmony is small if its pace is slower than that of its
surroundings. If, on the other hand, its melody is characteristic, or
can be enforced by repetition, it may become a powerful means of effect,
as in the splendid close of Fayrfax's Mass _Albanus_ quoted by Professor
Wooldridge on page 320 in the second volume of the _Oxford History of
Music_. Here the tenor part ought to be sung by a body of voices that
can be distinctly heard through the glowing superincumbent harmony; and
then the effect of its five steps of sequence in a melodious figure of
nine semibreves will reveal itself as the principle which gives the
passage consistency of