A Year through the Well-Tempered Clavier

[BWV 1080]

Moving this over to GMG from another forum and picking up where I left off - this was the idea:

Had been ruminating on doing something systematic this year to get to know the WTC better, thinking that committing to post here would keep me on the goal, so I will post one prelude & fugue per week, and as its late in the 3rd week, can do all 48 (books 1 & 2) by December 31. Hopefully can get some good input from others here. I plan on primarily focusing on form and style w/ a little bit of theory rather than comparing performances. Im not a piano player, so cant really discuss that aspect. it would be great if anyone wants to chime in on those topics or anything else pertinent to the topic

I will also go in reverse order, beginning with the Bm P&F from Book 2 as the first dozen or so of Book I are very familiar and its easier to start with less familiar ones and know where it will end.

My primary sources are an out-of-print analysis of the 48 preludes & fugues by German musicologist Siglind Bruhn, The Art of Preluding by Derek Remes, which lays out the figured bass foundation of the preludes, along with important schemas, and David Ledbetter's book which will give some broader background

[BWV 1080]

The Em prelude in Book 2 is another binary 2-part invention. Like the Am prelude, the B section consists of the subject, still in Em, played in inversion

another poster noted the resemblance to this Chorale Prelude

[BWV 1080]

Here is the fugue

[BWV 1080]

The E Major Prelude  is, along with the F minor, the Book II work I was most familiar with.  The piece is binary form 3-part invention.  Siglund Bruhn finds 9 separate motives the appear as follows:




this can be seen harmonically/contrapuntally (Transposed to C from Derek Remes' Art of Preluding)
The opening is a pedal on 1

whereas the bass comes to life in the closing of the second part

[Mandryka]

Wonderful fugue! Here's what Landowska said about it

I always
dreamed of hearing the E major Fugue sung by an a
cappella choir, for I felt it was more vocal than
instrumental. My dream was once fulfilled years ago in
Paris. A few of my friends in the Chanteurs de St.
Gervais sang it for me; and it confirmed my belief. This
four-part Fugue is of incomparable magnificence. Its
complex art is handled with unbelievable ease by Bach; glowing with the key of E major, it is one of the most
perfect works of music.

Here's what she made of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shY5niVYZi4&ab_channel=WandaLandowska-Topic


Listen to the theme in the final chorale of BWV 119, at 22:59 here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJAOE3d_YpI&ab_channel=NetherlandsBachSociety

The text in English being

Help your people, Lord Jesus Christ,
and bless what is your inheritance.
Look after and care for them at all times
and raise them high in eternity!
Amen.


(Note the lovely music for Amen)

Mozart arranged it for quartet in K 405

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XkVQ3_zwE&ab_channel=HagenQuartett-Topic



The prelude is just sweet music, pastoral.

[BWV 1080]

For piano, am partial to Bahrami

Here is the subject and two countersubjects


and the overall plan - have not seen much use of stretto until this fugue (that is in the second half of book 2), is the technique somehow 'non-galant'?  Note the entrances after the exposition all use stretto (overlap)

[BWV 1080]

The D# minor prelude is a strict 2-part invention in binary form, which unlike some of others in book 2, does modulate to the dominant in the second part

[BWV 1080]

The fugue subject and countersubject, which ,moves briefly to the relative A# minor, which is painful to think about. 



The subject appears with itself in inversion to conclude the piece

[BWV 1080]

The Eb prelude from Book 2 is another famous piece, here is the first 11 bars, which features a quiescenza



here is some more on the quiescenza schema, a common lick in galant music, most often in finales:

[BWV 1080]

The famous and relatively short 4-voice fugue features a rising leap motif and stretto in the subsequent thematic appearances

[BWV 1080]

The Dm Book 2 prelude is another 2-part invention

[BWV 1080]

The fugue subject features a descending chromatic lamento


Which appears with a countersubject



Note the appearance of the subject in inversion before the final entry

[BWV 1080]

The C# minor book 2 sounds to me like a French overture (or The French Overture BWV 831), with the prelude transitioning straight to the fugue.  It has a 3 part texture, like 831, beginning with a slightly tweaked lamento.  The blurb on the Netherlands Bach society vid I linked calls the prelude a Siciliana, no doubt due to the triple meter, but it does not have the typical major B-section

[Cato]

Wonderful fugue! Here's what Landowska said about it

I always
dreamed of hearing the E major Fugue sung by an a
cappella choir, for I felt it was more vocal than
instrumental. My dream was once fulfilled years ago in
Paris. A few of my friends in the Chanteurs de St.
Gervais sang it for me; and it confirmed my belief. This
four-part Fugue is of incomparable magnificence. Its
complex art is handled with unbelievable ease by Bach; glowing with the key of E major, it is one of the most
perfect works of music.

Here's what she made of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shY5niVYZi4&ab_channel=WandaLandowska-Topic


Listen to the theme in the final chorale of BWV 119, at 22:59 here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJAOE3d_YpI&ab_channel=NetherlandsBachSociety

The text in English being

Help your people, Lord Jesus Christ,
and bless what is your inheritance.
Look after and care for them at all times
and raise them high in eternity!
Amen.


(Note the lovely music for Amen)

Mozart arranged it for quartet in K 405

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XkVQ3_zwE&ab_channel=HagenQuartett-Topic



The prelude is just sweet music, pastoral.

I just came across your marvelous project and am very enthusiastic about it!   

Yes, given Bach's attitude toward cross-pollination, so to speak, using the E Major fugue for a choral work is something of which he would undoubtedly approve!

I await more news about your musical journey with great interest!

[Mandryka]

I just came across your marvelous project and am very enthusiastic about it!   

Yes, given Bach's attitude toward cross-pollination, so to speak, using the E Major fugue for a choral work is something of which he would undoubtedly approve!

I await more news about your musical journey with great interest!

It's not my project! It's @BWV 1080 you should be thanking.

[prémont]

The C# minor book 2 sounds to me like a French overture (or The French Overture BWV 831), with the prelude transitioning straight to the fugue.  It has a 3 part texture, like 831, beginning with a slightly tweaked lamento.  The blurb on the Netherlands Bach society vid I linked calls the prelude a Siciliana, no doubt due to the triple meter, but it does not have the typical major B-section

On the other hand the introductory parts of Bach's French ouverture movements are in 4/4, and the following fugue sections use to be in 2/2 - so no triple meter here.  I rather see the prelude in c sharp minor as some form of aria for two upper voices and basso continuo.

[Cato]

It's not my project! It's @BWV 1080 you should be thanking.

Whoops!  Yes, obviously!

[Cato]

The C# minor book 2 sounds to me like a French overture (or The French Overture BWV 831), with the prelude transitioning straight to the fugue.  It has a 3 part texture, like 831, beginning with a slightly tweaked lamento.  The blurb on the Netherlands Bach society vid I linked calls the prelude a Siciliana, no doubt due to the triple meter, but it does not have the typical major B-section

As mentioned earlier, I just came across your marvelous project and am very enthusiastic about it!   



I await more news about your musical journey with great interest!

[BWV 1080]

As mentioned earlier, I just came across your marvelous project and am very enthusiastic about it!   



I await more news about your musical journey with great interest!

Thanks - chime in on whatever you want (fav recordings, form etc)

[BWV 1080]

Here is the subject and countersubject for the C# minor fugue, which Bach varies the harmony at different entries



Two full expositions followed by a third exposition in inversion.  The Countersubject is then given an exposition in the three voices