EPISODES vs.

RE-EXPOSITIONS (ENTRY GROUPS)

After the Exposition Bach typically alternates between the following two sections:
(1) EPISODES: sections that
(a) do NOT contain complete statements of the initial subject and/or answer, although
they often consist of fragments of the subject and/or answer as well as the countersubject;
(b) usually consist of melodic/harmonic SEQUENCES;
(c) usually are harmonically unstable, that is, they change key (e.g. from i to III or I to V).
Essentially, an episode is a TRANSITION between an Exposition and a Re-exposition or
between two Re-expositions.
(2) ENTRY GROUPS OR RE-EXPOSITIONS: sections that
(a) CONTAIN complete statements of the initial subject and/or answer, which is why you
could think of them as "re-expositions";
(b) do NOT contain harmonic sequences that suggest multiple keys. If there are two
keys, they would be a P5 apart between a tonic and its dominant.
"Re-exposition" is a loose term. Sometimes it means that there are multiple entries of the
Subject and Answer but in a new key and its own dominant. For example, if the initial
subject is in D minor, and the initial answer is in A minor, then the "Re-exposition" might
present the Subject in F major and the Answer in C major--that is, the relative major and
its own dominant. But to confuse things further (!), sometimes a "re-exposition" or
"entry group" consists of only one statement of the subject. So technically it's still a
"group" but with only one member.
The reason why some people use the term "entry group" is that in some of his fugues
Bach doesn't always stick to the "balanced" exposition format, one subject in the local
tonic key, one answer in its dominant key. Instead he might present two entries in the
tonic and one in the dominant (or vice versa)--in other words, a "group" of entries. [That
should be a big help to you in the G minor fugue homework.]
To help you sort through these matters, we have posted on ANGEL an analyzed copy of
JSB's Fugue #2 in C minor, WTC I, the work we began to discuss in class (see "Unit #2:
Handouts, Scores" folder). In fact, in the "middle" of this fugue two sections appear that
are unusual "re-expositions": one section contains only ONE statement of the subject;
the other section contains only ONE statement of the tonal answer (!) Don't worry--the G
minor doesn't have any of these single, "lone wolf" re-expositions!