to the tonic rather than up a fifth to the supertonic. For the same reason, it is possible for the answer of such a subject to be in the subdominant key.

During the answer, the voice in which the subject was previously heard accompanies with new material. If this new material is reused in later statements of the subject, it is called a countersubject; if this accompanying material is only heard once, it is simply referred to as free counterpoint.The