The Italian termstretto[ˈstretto] (plural:stretti) has two distinct meanings in music:
The termstretto comes from theItalian past participle ofstringere, and means "narrow", "tight", or "close".[4] It applies in a close succession of statements of the subject in afugue, especially in the final section. In stretto, the subject is presented in one voice and then imitated in one or more other voices, with the imitation starting before the subject has finished. The subject is therefore superimposed upon itselfcontrapuntally. Stretto is typically employed near the end of a fugue, where the 'piling-up' of two or more temporally off-set statements of the subject signals the arrival of the fugue's conclusion in climactic fashion.
For example, the C-major fugue fromJ. S. Bach’sThe Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (BWV 846) opens with an initial succession of statements of the subject, each at a distance of six beats:
As the musical argument proceeds, the gap between the entries closes to two beats:
In the final bars, the entries are even closer, with the upper two voices following at a distance of just one beat:
The complete C-major fugue may be heard here:
In other instances,stretto serves to display contrapuntal prowess, as in the Fugue No. 9 in E major, BWV 878, where Bach follows a traditional exposition (subject accompanied bycountersubject) with a counterexposition in which the subject accompanies itself, in stretto, followed by the countersubject accompanying itself.
Fugal stretto techniques may also be found in pieces that are not themselves fugues, such as the boisterous finale ofHaydn’sQuartet in E flat, Op. 76 No. 6. In the following passage, bars 119–132, the theme is stated in the first violin with simple accompanying chord of the off-beats (bars 119–122). When repeated in bars 127–132, the viola and 'cello lead with the theme and the violins follow closely at one beat’s distance. This has the effect of “forever deceiving the listener as to where the main beat comes.”[5]
The dictionary definition ofstretto at Wiktionary