Fugue #156

In Arcana (1925-27), Edgard Varèse responds to Berlioz - never explicitly, but implicitly in his use of the idée fixe.

Varèse strips the concept of the idée fixe from its romantic roots and places it squarely in a modernist context, where the form itself becomes more important than its ability to advance any narrative line. And so Varèse, in some ways, operates on a meta-level, telling a story of Berlioz telling a story, by using a repeating theme.

a siren screaming getthefuckoutofmyway

A fugue, according to music theorists, is a type of composition for a number of parts or voices. A fugue opens with a main theme, or subject, which then sounds or repeats in each voice throughout the piece, imitating the subject. When each voice has entered, the exposition is complete, and the subject returns. This is then followed by a coda, or closing material.

Essentially, then, there is the point - the theme - and there is the counterpoint - its echoes: two lines proceeding simultaneously.