Counterpoint and Fugue (Cherubini): Chapter 9

The coda is that portion of the Subject, by which it is continued after its second compartment; and which serves, at the same time, to prepare the entrance of the response, and to bring the Counter-Subject.

There are cases where the Coda itself becomes the commencement of the Counter-Subject, and so intimately joins with this latter, as that the Coda and the Counter-Subject form an undistinguished whole.

Here is another example of the same kind, in four voices, by Padre Angelo Predieri:

In modern fugues, it is the habit to prolong the Coda of the Response, before the Subject re-enters; this plan is wise, and should be maintained. It has the double advantage of causing the re-entrance of the subject to be desired, and of the imparting variety to the composition, by breaking the monotony of subjects and responses too closely brought in; it contributes to the elegance and good conducting of a fugue, and it may also furnish an additional theme to the imitations and digressions. This applies to every kind of fugue, whatever its number of parts.

It will be seen here, that the latter example has the advantage; and that the intervention of the coda, between the response and the Re-Entrance of the subject, has a very good effect.