This is the concluding fantasia of the six fantasias in the Libro secondo of 1649. Of all of the fantasias in this collection it is the most similar to the later fugue genre so closely associated with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. In each of the other fantasias in this collection, the primary theme appears in varied rhythmic permutations from section to section in the work; however, in this fantasia, the theme never undergoes any sort of rhythmic metamorphosis. The fantasia is only in two sections. In the first section the theme is featured as the subject of monothematic imitation. The second section introduces a countersubject creating double counterpoint. With its slow moving subject, and its focused concentration on a theme that does not alter itself rhythmically, the work is not entirely dissimilar from an eighteenth century double fugue in the stil antico.

© Andrus Madsen, Rovi