Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV 876 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part II)

Prelude and Fugue in E flat major , BWV 876, form a pair of works in Part 2 of the Well-Tempered Clavier , a collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard instruments by Johann Sebastian Bach .

Prelude

Hugo Riemann describes this prelude as a " gigue in brisk 9/8 time". Hermann Keller compares it to a Bach lute prelude in the same key, BWV 998, and describes it as a "little dance legend" (based on the legend of the same name by Gottfried Keller ). Alfred Dürr mentions the term “sonata prelude” and assigns it to the category of “motif-shaped variable movement” with “ pastoral character”. In any case, there is agreement about the cheerful grace of the piece, despite some minor clouding, reduced intervals in bar 43 and large note jumps (e.g. falling seventh in bar 37, rising ninths in bars 39 and 41).

At the end of the piece, performers have to decide whether they want to reach the determined low point on C in bar 66, the pathetic double eighth rest in the next bar, the hemiole of bars 67/68, the simultaneous suddenly rising 16th note scale and the subsequent unanimous descent to want to emphasize "put in scene" at the final bar 71 or try to integrate it into the whole process.

Gap

The four-part fugue is an example of Bach's use of the stile antico , which is also expressed in the alla breve time , among other things . Her theme is vocal and catchy, the piece could be interpreted as a choral fugue. Riemann underlines the following text: “Praise, praise and thanks be to the Lord who redeems us from death”. However, the theme is almost always taken a few notes further, so that the delimitation meant by Bach remains open. Peter Benary therefore suggests the following setting: "So God has mercy on the world that he has given us his Son in his goodness".

The exposure closes in clock 30 with the subject and elongated in this way leads smoothly into the second implementation over that with multiple strettos (clock 30/31 and 37/38) is provided. After the only interlude in bars 46-53, the third development follows with an initially feigned narrowing, since from bar 56 only parts of the theme can be heard in the upper part. In bars 59 and 60 the theme in soprano and bass is then again completely narrowed, whereupon the descending second passage in soprano up to es ¹ in the final bar 70 ends the fugue.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Benary: JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: Text - Analysis - Playback. MN 718, H. & B. Schneider AG. Aarau, 2005. p. 99
2. ↑ Hermann Keller: The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach , p. 140 ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

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
• Cecil Gray: The forty-eight Preludes and Fugues of JS Bach . Oxford University Press, 1938.

Web links

• The Well-Tempered Clavier II, Johann Sebastian Bach : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
• Hermann Keller: BWV 876