A Repton Fugue for wind sextet by Philip Le Bas

Video score of a short, attractive fugue for wind sextet (flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn and bassoon) by Philip Le Bas, inspired by and based on Hubert Parry's much-loved hymn "Dear Lord and Father", whose melody is entitled "Repton". The fugue's structure results from a fascinating online Fugue Writing course run by CityLit, London, which the composer attended in the first half of 2024. The course presents and explains the eighteenth-century ideas of a fully developed fugue, which culminated in J.S. Bach's extraordinary achievement, the "Well Tempered Clavier", and which has been used in various forms by composers ever since.
The fugal "rules" are here treated rather as guidelines in order to create a fugue more immediately appealing to 21st century listeners, but the piece attempts to maintain the general structure found in classic fugues. The initial subject is quirky and tuneful (in fact a bit of an ear-worm), but it immediately goes on to include counter-subjects, tonal answers, codettas, episodes, middle entries, inverted subjects, strettos, a pedal and a final entry, plus a relatively long coda in which Parry's original melody is celebrated exuberantly.
Those who know the composer's "Repton Variations" for wind sextet will recognise the opening and ending, at least in outline, but they will soon find the rest to be more technically developed, if rather less serious, from the very beginning! The piece lasts just over three minutes.
There is a slightly earlier and shorter version of this work for wind quintet, rather than sextet, at • A Repton Fugue for win... .
Philip Le Bas is most grateful to pianist and lecturer Karl Lutchmayer, who tutored the course, for his help and ideas in the writing of this fugue.
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