is the Greekepieis-odos (coming in besides—i.e. adventitious), meaning an adventitious tale introduced into the main story.
In music, an intermediate passage in a fugue, whereby the subject is for a time suspended.
“In ordinary fugues … it is usual to allow a certain number of bars to intervene from time to time, after which the subject is resumed. The intervening bars … are called Episodes.”—Ouseley: Counterpoint, xxii. 169.
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