Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 08/10/2005, uploaded on 02/12/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Prelude and Fugue in E minor, from Book II of Well-Tempered Clavier         Johann Sebastian Bach

The forty-eight preludes and fugues that make up the two books of the Well-Tempered Clavier were compiled at two different times—the first book in 1722 while Bach was in Köthen and in 1742 in Leipzig. In each book, the first prelude and fugue set is in C major, followed by the next in C minor and so they ascend chromatically in major-minor pairs. The preludes for the most part exhibit simple binary or ternary forms;  a few (Nos. 9 and 12 in Book II) use the old Baroque sonata form well-known in the works of Scarlatti. Quite exceptionally, the Prelude in D of Book II nearly approaches the requirements of the modern sonata form. The fugues range from two to five voices, with three and four being the preferable choices, and employ a wide range of contrapuntal techniques.

The title page of Bach’s autograph fair copy (in the possession of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz) states that the Well-Tempered Clavier is a set of preludes and fugues “for the Use and Profit of the Musical Youth Desirous of Learning.” Although not published during his lifetime, Bach made use of the Well-Tempered Clavier with his own students, usually lending his manuscript to them and letting them make their own personal copy. These copies were slowly spread across Europe and several later influential composers, most notably Mozart and Beethoven, obtained their own manuscripts of the Well-Tempered Clavier. During the course of the nineteenth century, this remarkable set of preludes and fugue became a cornerstone in the piano literature, a position which it still holds today. As proof of its importance in the literature, the famous nineteenth century music critic, Hans von Bülow, called the the Well-Tempered Clavier the “Pianists’ Old Testament.”

Interesting is Bach’s rather general statement on the title page: “for the Use and Profit of the Musical Youth Desirous of Learning.” Bach was not specific concerning the subject of his instruction, so it can only be left to assume it is not one specific element, but music in all its aspects that he wished to teach. In the Well-Tempered Clavier, the music student has the most comprehensive and practical instructional manual to harmony and counterpoint, far surpassingly any textbook written on these subjects. From these two disciplines comes the foundation needed for a complete understanding of music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In assuming Bach’s only intention was to teach keyboard technique, we fail to recognize the full potential of these forty-eight preludes and fugues.

The Prelude in E minor from Book II is energetic and hardly a single measure goes by that does not contain lively sixteenth note runs and arpeggios. The melodic germ is the two-measure idea that begins in the right hand and immediately answered by the left. From then on, it is constantly tossed between the two hands. The three-voice Fugue begins with a somewhat long subject that delicately shifts between compound and duple rhythms. Despite the characteristic sixteenth note turns in the first measure of the subject, it is the triplet rhythms that ultimately dominate the fugue. Overall, the fugue is straightforward. There is no regular countersubject and the subject always appears by itself in each of the middle entries. A pause on a half cadence precedes the final statement of the subject in the bass. A dominant pedal brings about another pause, though this time on a leading tone seventh. A flourish of triplets then brings the fugue to a close.     Joseph DuBose