Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV 860 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part I)

Prelude played by Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka

Fugue played by Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka

Prelude and Fugue in G major , BWV 860, form a pair of works in Part 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier , a collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard instruments by Johann Sebastian Bach .

Prelude

This playfully virtuoso prelude prescribes different time signatures for the right and left hand. It contains 19 clocks , however, for the right hand as ²⁴ / ₁₆ and for the left hand as ( ⁴ / ₄ are listed ¯ clock). A similar phenomenon is found in the 26th  Goldberg variation , in the right hand for a ¹⁸ / ₁₆ ¯ clock and for the left hand ³ / ₄ ¯ clock is prescribed. The piece can be understood easily and largely as a fully configured chord set in which the harmony usually changes over the whole bar . Since the following fugue also has a triplet rhythm, the connection between prelude and fugue should be comprehensible in the choice of the tempo.

Gap

Sequences in the fugue in G major BWV 860, bars 17-19. Play ^{? / i}

The one Gigue related theme in ⁶ / ₈ -Stroke follows the formal scheme infrequent AB-B 'A'. The numerous second steps within the theme contrast delightfully with the two jumps in the seventh . After the three-part exposition and four bars of interlude, themes alternate recto (in the original form, also in minor) and inverso (as a reversal ). A rhythmic increase results from the 32nd figures, which are initially loosely interspersed from bar 47 and appear frequently in the closing bars. In addition, in the second half there are some suggested narrowings , which, however, take on a joking coloring with the introduction of the theme in the G major third in bar 79.

The fugue thrives on the unstable and fascinating balance between playful motor skills, the dancing character of the gigue and some contrapuntal tricks.

literature

• Peter Benary: JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: Text - Analysis - Playback . MN 718, H. & B. Schneider, Aarau 2005.
• Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier . 4th edition. Bärenreiter Introduction to Works, 2012, ISBN 978-3-7618-1229-7 .
• Cecil Gray: The Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues of JS Bach.  - Internet Archive . Oxford University Press, London / New York / Toronto 1938.

Web links

• The Well-Tempered Clavier I, Johann Sebastian Bach : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
• Hermann Keller : BWV 860 (PDF)
• BWV 860. (Flash) Philip Goeth

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Benary: JS Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier: Text - Analysis - Playback . MN 718, H. & B. Schneider, Aarau 2005, p. 56