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The first piece of The Well-Tempered Clavier in Bach's handwriting.

Unless specified otherwise, the fugues are in three voices.

The Well-Temepred Clavier I (1722, revised 1733, 1736, 1744)

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Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846: The prelude is one of the most famous pieces of the WTC. It consists almost entirely of broken chords, similar to those found in many pieces from Baroque teaching repertoire, and the 17th century toccata arpeggiata.[1] Two earlier versions of this piece survived, one of which is included in Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. The arpeggiation in this version is not written out as it is in the finished piece.[2] The fugue is in four voices and relies heavily on stretto, probably inspired by J.C.F. Fischer's first fugue of Ariadne musica. Some aspects of both the prelude and the fugue are programmatic: the prelude ends with the lowest note possible on a five-octave harpsichord of Bach's era, whereas the cadential flourish at the end of the fugue ends on the highest possible note; and there are 24 entries of the subject in the fugue, just as there are 24 pieces in Book 1.[3]

Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847: Most of the prelude is in two voices, outlining harmonic progressions by means of uninterrupted 16th-note passages. The 16th-note rhythm does not stop until the very end of the piece, which comprises two toccata-like sections: an Adagio and a Presto. The fugue is based on a sequential subject and two countersubjects in triple counterpoint. The dense contrapuntal writing Bach employed in this fugue has been subjected to analysis by numerous commentators, perhaps including Bach's own pupils.[4] Examples of analytically interesting features would include, for instance, the mirror aspects of the second half of the fugue (the entering order of the voices of subject entries is exactly the same in bars 15–31 as it is in bars 1–15, episode four is a variation of episode 1 and episode 5 is a transposition of episode 2.[5]), as well as the rhythmic design of subject being employed in Bach's D major and F major sinfonias, both of which utilize triple counterpoint as well.[6]

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 848: The two-voice prelude marks the first instance of triple meter in the WTC. Almost the entire piece is built on trading a small number of motivic figures between hands, with an extended arpeggio section that was composed last. There are many instances of identical, transposed, or inverted passages. The lively fugue may be seen as a bourrée[7], but unlike the typical dance of that form, it uses a number of complex structural devises: three countersubjects (although one of them only appears twice),[8] and a recapitulation of the first sections as the ending of the fugue – this last feature led some commentators to consider the piece one of the most "modern" in the WTC, since it resembles the classic recapitulations of sonata form.[9]

The beginning of the C-sharp minor fugue in Bach's handwriting. One of the most complex fugues of the collection, it elaborates on a typical Baroque cross motif, clearly seen here in the very first bars.

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 849: The prelude is the first prelude in the WTC to use fully polyphonic texture, albeit without strict part writing. It proceeds by means of thematic development of two basic motives. The fugue is one of the most complex in the entire collection. It is a triple fugue in five voices – the first of two five-voice fugues of the WTC – and also, in the beginning, employs a countersubject. Musicologist David Schulenberg sees the dark mood and alla breve notation as reminiscent of Froberger's Ricercar in C-sharp minor, FbWV 406, while James Ladewig has shown the influence of Frescobaldi's Ricercar Primo (1615), also a triple fugue, and with a similar first subject.[10] The first subject of Bach's fugue is a classic example of a Baroque cross motif, used by numerous composers such as Johann Kaspar Kerll and Heinrich Schütz, as well as by Bach, e.g. in St Matthew Passion.[11]

Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 850: The prelude is in two voices and maintains the same texture throughout: 16th-note runs in the right hand and 8th note staccato bass in the left, with just a small cadential flourish at the end. The four-voice fugue is unusual in many ways. It is one of the least strict fugues of the WTC, almost abandoning the subject for the last third of its duration,[12] and has an unusual subject that consists of a fast flourish followed by dotted rhythm. Numerous writers suggested links with the French overture, namely its first section, which usually featured brilliant effects and dotted rhythms.[13]

Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 851: The prelude is a two-voice piece with arpeggios in the right hand over a simple bass pattern. The counterpoint grows more complex towards the final section of the piece, which wasn't present in the early version preserved in Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. The fugue is in 3
4 time, the first instance of triple time fugue in the WTC. It shares many parallels with C major and C minor fugues of the first volume of the WTC: a similarity of subjects with the former, a symmetrical structure akin to that of the latter, and others.[14] Statements of subject, countersubject, and their inverted forms are frequently incomplete or inexact, and the fugue has been described as a kaleidoscope of several motivic fragments.[15][16]

Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 852: This pair features one of the largest preludes of the WTC, a long piece in three sections, featuring a full-fledged double fugue. The design may have been inspired by multisectional organ preludes of the Norhtern German organ school, particularly those by Buxtehude.[17] A famous remark in the autograph, in unknown hand, instructs the performers to keep the tempo of the first section for the second one, and not accelerate, as the notation might suggest. By comparison, the actual fugue of the E-flat major pair is a simple piece, with a single countersubject, and many long episodes; yet there is also a symmetrical design, the ending of the fugue structurally mirroring its beginning.[18]

Prelude in E-flat minor and Fugue in D-sharp minor, BWV 853: The prelude presents an ornamented melody moving over a chordal accompaniment. Its particular expressiveness and tombeau-like character has been noted by many commentators, with the noted performer and musicologist Paul Badura-Skoda suggesting that the music may have been composed as a lament for Bach's first wife, who died in 1720.[19][20] The fugue was almost certainly composed in D minor, and then transposed. Stylistically and harmonically it has many similarities with 17th century ricercars and fantasias, and may have been included in the WTC as a representative of the largely modal counterpoint of stile antico.[21] No countersubjects are used, but the subject appears 35 times, with a complete counterexposition for its inverted form.[22] The subject is constantly remodelled from statement to statement, a technique favored by Frescobaldi.[23]

Prelude and Fugue in E major, BWV 854: The prelude is a typical Baroque pastorale in 12
8 time and with numerous pedal points. It utilizes a variant of sonata form, with a recapitulation of the first section at the end.[24] One of the surviving contemporary copies of this piece, made by Bach's pupil Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber, places it not in the WTC, but as a Prelude to French Suite No. 6, and scholars have noted similar structural features in the gigue of that suite.[25] The brief fugue is built on an very short subject of a type used in 17th century organ verset collections,[26] and a number of recurring connecting motifs instead of regular countersubjects.[27] The original version of the fugue, from the 1720s, included a variant of consecutive fifths that Bach eliminated in a later revision.[28]

Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 855: The prelude is in two sections: one with an ornamented melody over an incessant 16th-note bass line, the other marked Presto and similar in texture to the C minor prelude. This piece has been heavily reworked by Bach from its original version, which is preserved in Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.[29] The fugue is the only example of a two-voice fugue in the WTC, and is perhaps related to a lost collection of two-voice fugues Bach used for teaching purposes.[30] It features eight statements of the subject and a regular countersubject.[31] The two sections of the fugue both end in parallel octaves. An exceptionally rare feature in contrapuntal music of the time, it is used here as a kind of reference to Vivaldi's concerto writing.[32] The harmonic scheme employs real answers, similar to BWV 961, another two-voice fugue by Bach.[33]

Jean-Henri d'Anglebert's table of ornaments (1689): the source of Bach's knowledge of the Doppelt-cadence used in the F major prelude.

Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 856: The prelude is a fast piece in 12
8 time, maintaining two-part texture throughout. It contains many complex trills of the Doppelt-cadence variety, derived from d'Anglebert's 1689 table of ornaments;[34] and may be described as a study for playing such trills, for both hands. The fugue is based on Fischer's F major fugue from Ariadne musica, borrowing the outline of the subject and possibly the countersubject.[35] Fischer's piece is based on French gigue rhythm and meter, while Bach uses a later dance, a form of the passepied.[36] Bach's fugue is divded into two sections by a perfect D minor cadence. The second part of the fugue features a symmetrical pattern of stretto entries of the subject.[37][38]

The ending of the F major fugue and the beginning of the F minor prelude, in the autograph manuscript of the first volume of the Well-Tempered Clavier.

Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 857: The prelude combines style brisé with four-part contrapuntal writing.[39] A frequently recurring motif, introduced already in the first bars, invites comparison with Bach's inventions and sinfonias.[40]

Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp major, BWV 858: The prelude uses the somewhat rare 12
16 time signature, but was almost certainly composed in the more common 12
8 time. The implications of this change are not clear, and remain subject to debate by scholars and performers alike; whether Bach's intended tempo was slower or faster than that of the E major prelude is unknown.[41]

Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 859:

Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 860:

Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 861:

Prelude and Fugue in A-flat major, BWV 862:

Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, BWV 863:

Prelude and Fugue in A major, BWV 864:

Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 865:

Prelude and Fugue in B-flat major, BWV 866:

Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 867:

Prelude and Fugue in B major, BWV 868:

Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 869:

The Well-Temepred Clavier II (1740–1746)

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Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 870

Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 871

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 872

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 873:

Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 874:

Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 875:

Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 876:

Prelude and Fugue in D-sharp minor, BWV 877:

Prelude and Fugue in E major, BWV 878:

Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 879:

Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 880:

Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 881:

Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp major, BWV 882:

Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 883:

Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 884:

Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 885:

Prelude and Fugue in A-flat major, BWV 886:

Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, BWV 887:

Prelude and Fugue in A major, BWV 888:

Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 889:

Prelude and Fugue in B-flat major, BWV 890:

Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 891:

Prelude and Fugue in B major, BWV 892:

Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 893:

Notes

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  1. ^ Ledbetter, 143.
  2. ^ Schulenberg, 208.
  3. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/1 in C major.
  4. ^ Schulenberg, 212.
  5. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/2 in C minor.
  6. ^ Ledbetter, 154.
  7. ^ Jenne, 5.
  8. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/3 in C# major.
  9. ^ Schulenberg, 213.
  10. ^ Ladewig, James. 1991. Bach and the Prima prattica: The Influence of Frescobaldi on a Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier. JM 9:358–74
  11. ^ Ledbetter, 163.
  12. ^ Schulenberg, 216.
  13. ^ Ledbetter, 169.
  14. ^ Ledbetter, 173–174.
  15. ^ Schulenberg, 217.
  16. ^ Daverio, John. 1992. “h e ‘Unraveling’ of Schoenberg’s Bach.” In: Benstock, Seymour, ed. 1992. Johann Sebastian Bach: A Tercentenary Celebration. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
  17. ^ Ledbetter, 174–175.
  18. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/7 in Eb major.
  19. ^ Ledbetter, 178.
  20. ^ Badura-Skoda, Paul. Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard, p. 215. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.
  21. ^ Ledbetter, 181–182.
  22. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/8 in Eb minor / D# minor.
  23. ^ Ledbetter, 182.
  24. ^ Schulenberg, 221.
  25. ^ Ledbetter, 183.
  26. ^ Ledbetter, 183.
  27. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/9 in E major.
  28. ^ Schulenberg, 221.
  29. ^ Schulenberg, 222.
  30. ^ Ledbetter, 186.
  31. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/9 in E major.
  32. ^ Ledbetter, 186–187.
  33. ^ Schulenberg, 223.
  34. ^ Ledbetter, 189.
  35. ^ Schulenberg, 224.
  36. ^ Ledbetter, 190.
  37. ^ Schulenberg, 224.
  38. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/11 in F major.
  39. ^ Schulenberg, 225.
  40. ^ Bruhn, WTC I/12 in F minor.
  41. ^ Ledbetter, 194.
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