He first gave the title to a book of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, dated 1722, composed for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the. Richard atkinson analyzes the amazing counterpoint in the astonishingly complex csharp minor fugue from book i of bachs welltempered. Johann sebastian bachs well tempered clavier posts. This is a fair use educational commentary that uses a performance. As a quintessential baroque fugue, bachs d major fugue from book 1 of the welltempered clavier will make for suitable illustration of how to analyze a fugue. In a conventional baroque fugue, the subject is first stated by itself.
Johann sebastian bach welltempered clavier, book 1. An important feature of the fugue is its two pedal points bars 61 to 65, and 76 to 82. Ranking of difficulty of well tempered clavier preludes. A4 pages, 600 dpi scan with stamp added showing the printed source. This work is licensed under a creative commons attributionnoncommercialnoderivatives 4. Js bach, the welltempered clavier book 1, detailed. Bachs fugue in g minor, wtc book i essay 841 words. The best known of bachs clavier works is the famous set of preludes and fugues called the welltempered clavier. A proper analysis of js bachs welltempered clavier is therefore simply a. The haunting fivevoice fugue in bflat minor has several characteristics which are notable. The c major prelude from bachs welltempered clavier, book i, william drabkin, music analysis, vol. Subject and countersubject detection for analysis of the well.
A piano version played by david korevaar, a harpsichord version played by edward parmenti. Complete score of the welltempered clavier, book 1, by johann sebastian bach open welltempered clavier project. Im not nearly gifted enough to play all these pieces, but i love muddling through a small selection and testing my brains musical boundaries which are far too narrow, im the first to admit. The double fugue exhibits some of js bachs most radical voicings in book 1.
A detailed guide that analyzes the structural, harmonic and thematic frame of. Bachs and as it begins by leaping from tonic to dominant, the answer treble, bars 3 to 6 is tonal, leaping from dominant to tonic. If you want a more detailed discussionanalysis of this piece, you could look at. Analysis of bach fugue bwv 846 in c major wtc book 1. For another example of bachs programmatic numerology, see the final fugue of the welltempered clavier, no. A detailed guide that analyzes the structural, harmonic and thematic frame of the prelude and the fugue. This fugue in c major, the first fugue from the first book of bachs welltempered clavier, presents several interesting aspects. Richard atkinson analyzes the amazing counterpoint of the d major fugue from the welltempered clavier, book ii, by j. Second, the theme features a dramatic and expressive leap of a minor 9th the big jump upwards between the 2nd and 3rd notes. Are there any websitesother resources available that will be useful for me. A fugue of unusual construction, in the few entries of the subject, and the very large proportion of episode.
In the absense of additional fugal devices such as subject variation or countersubjects, bach develops the narrative from the most natural tension available in a fugue. The prelude and fugue in csharp minor, bwv 849, is a pair of keyboard compositions by johann sebastian bach. I wish to extend my thanks to yo for allowing me to link to them. A general introduction covers topics like the origins of the wtc, the welltempered scale, the clavier at bachs time, the history of the prelude, and the background of fugue composition. Analysis of c sharp minor fugue from bach s welltempered clavier, book i duration.
Each part consists of twentyfour preludes and fugues, one prelude and one fugue in each of the twelve major and minor keys. The welltempered clavier, book 1, preludes and fugues 1724 glenn gould on allmusic 2007. Analysis of bachs fugue bwv 846 in c major wtc i teoria. Welltempered clavier, book 1, bwv846869 various arrangements play streams in full or download mp3 from classical archives, the largest and best organized classical music site on the web. Lossless files are 96 khz24bit, compressed with flac. We start our analysis with the, so to say, entry door into the 48, the well tempered clavier book i, prelude c maj. There are many ways you can support the school of music at nau, including monetary giving that helps us keep our music programs strong. More information about these sequences can be found there. This prelude is an intentionally simple series of chord arpeggios, walking through some modulations in the vicinity of and returning back to c maj. It is also said that the subject appears exactly 24 times in this fugue representing the 24 fugues in the first book of the welltempered clavier.
It is also noteable for the smoothness of its voice leading and the tension built throughout its lengthy coda, which accounts for nearly half the entire prelude. The voices appear in the exposition in the unusual order of subject answer answer subject. On the 24 fugues of the first book of bachs welltempered clavier, the algorithm. Prelude and fugue in csharp minor, bwv 849 wikipedia. Yo tomita the links on this page point to files at yo tomitas welltempered clavier book ii midi page. This comprehensive, indepth work book on bachs welltempered clavier should be part of every pianists, piano teachers, and advanced piano amateurs library. Volume i deals with the preludes and fugues wtc i, nos. Incidentally, this subject is an example of double dotting or. First, it is one of the rare fugues with five voices there are two in book 1 of the welltempered clavier, and none in book 2. The c major prelude from book 1 the first one is probably the easiest for a beginner its actually one of the harder ones to do really well. Bach the well tempered clavier, book i, bwv 846869. Indepth analysis and interpretation, volume i paperback october 1, 1993. It explores the intricacies of each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys and constitutes the largestscale and mostinfluential undertaking for.
The welltempered clavier, book 1 bwv 846869 the welltempered clavier 1 is a collection of educational pieces with exceptionally high artistic contents. It is the fourth prelude and fugue in the first book of the welltempered clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer. Analysis of c sharp minor fugue from bachs welltempered clavier, book i duration. In bach s time clavier was a generic name indicating a variety of keyboard instruments, most typically a harpsichord or clavichord but not excluding an organ either the modern german spelling for the collection is. As you watch, youll see that bach uses stretto more and more, which heightens the tension of the piece. One needs to click on the piano, in order to get to the performances on organ.
I need some help analyzing the prelude in c maj from bachs wtc book 2. Hermann keller writes in his little book about the welltempered clavier. Join the pianotv mailing list today to receive exclusive updates and a free ebook. Then have a look at the two books and do the cmaj, amin, gmaj, emin, fmaj, dmin and so on. The subject is announced in the alto 28 analysis of j.
Prelude and fugue in f minor, from welltempered clavier book i johann sebastian bach. The welltempered clavier, bwv 846893, collection of 48 preludes and fugues by johann sebastian bach, published in two books 1722 and 1742. The welltempered clavier, bwv 846893, is a collection of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, composed for solo keyboard by johann sebastian bach. Preludes and fugues the welltempered clavier, by j. The 14 notes long subject is said to be related to bachs name. Analysis of bachs fugue bwv 846 in c major wtc i jose rodriguez alvira. Lossy files have been converted with lame, mp3 vbr v0. Fugue no 22 in bflat minor, bwv 867 five voices the. From all the works written in the baroque era, no other work has been so wellcherished, frequently performed and. The 8th pfpair of book 1 is unusual in the sense that prelude and fugue are notated in different keys. Prelude and fugue in g minor, bwv 861 bach, johann. In the same bar, alto and bass exhibit parallel octaves bar 39 beat 3, bar 40 beat 1 and 4. This course provides an indepth analysis of this remarkable prelude and. The website is interactive and provides an introduction to the wtc, scores and analysis, and it covers three fully recorded versions of wtc book 1.
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