Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 846 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part I)

Prelude played by Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka

Fugue played by Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka

Prelude and Fugue in C major , BWV 846, open the first part of the Well-Tempered Clavier , a collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard instruments by Johann Sebastian Bach .

Prelude

Clock added by CGF Schwencke

This prelude consists almost entirely of written out arpeggios in 4/4 time, each of which can be combined into five-part chords . In the three surviving versions, the number of bars increased steadily: the first version has 24 bars, the second 27, and the third, now commonly used version, contains 35 bars. Earlier versions are preserved in the Clavier booklet for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (as BWV 846a) and in the music booklet for Anna Magdalena Bach .

The edition of Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke from 1801 by Simrock inserts an additional measure (G-es-hc ¹ -es ¹ ) after bar 22 , probably mainly to soften the bass progression from F sharp to A flat, or on the assumption that there is an error here.

In the words of the editor-in-chief of the Bach magazine of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, it is quite likely that Schwencke himself was the inventor of this inauthentic beat, since an experienced contemporary of Bach would hardly have tried to 'correct' this not uncommon bass progression. (“It seems unlikely that any knowledgeable contemporary of Bach's would have tried to 'correct' this not uncommon bass progression.”) This arrangement also significantly affects the effect of the subsequent eight-bar organ point on G.

The Prelude in C major from the first part of the Well-Tempered Clavier is still the best-known work from the collection. It is not technically demanding and has inspired numerous composers to adapt it, including Charles Gounod for his Ave Maria . Philipp Spitta describes the prelude as a piece of unspeakable magic over which a great, blissful melody drags disembodied, like angels singing through the silent night over whispering bushes and trees.

Gap

Beginning of the fugue in C major

The fugue in C major is set in four parts in 4/4 time and contains only 27 bars, but can hardly be surpassed in terms of thematic-motivic density: the fugue theme appears 24 times, which is understood as an allusion to the 24 keys of the well-tempered piano can. This leads to numerous narrow passages , which are not saved for the conclusion, as is often the case, but appear in measure 7 after the six-bar exposition . The topic contains 14 notes, which can be understood as an indication of the numerical symbolic value of BACH: B = 2, A = 1, C = 3, H = 8.

The tempo suggestions of the editors and authors vary widely: from 66 metronome beats for half notes (Otto Keller, 1926) to 108 beats for eighth notes ( Hermann Keller , 1950).

The middle of the fugue (conclusion of bar 13) is marked by a cadence after A minor. The anabasis of the upper part in the last two bars , which is atypical for a fugue, is unusual . This is an ascending musical figure , in which case the three-stroke C as the highest note of the work is only reached at the very end.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Benary: JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: Text - Analysis - Playback . MN 718, H. & B. Schneider AG. Aarau, 2005. p. 16
2. ↑ Bach journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute , 1970, Volume 1, pp. 19-22
3. ^ Philipp Spitta: Johann Sebastian Bach. Volume 1, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1873.
4. ↑ Cecil Gray: The forty-eight Preludes and Fugues of JS Bach . Oxford University Press, 1938. p. 15
5. ↑ Peter Benary: JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: Text - Analysis - Playback . MN 718, H. & B. Schneider AG. Aarau, 2005. p. 18

literature

• Peter Benary: JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: Text - Analysis - Playback . MN 718, H. & B. Schneider AG. Aarau, 2005.
• Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier . Bärenreiter factory introductions. ISBN 9783761812297 . 4th edition 2012
• Hermann Keller: BWV 846