Das Wohltemperierte Clavier I, Fuga IV

Description

Five voices make this C-sharp minor fugue one of the largest and weightiest works in Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Only two fugues in the book are written for five voices: this one, No. 4, and No. 22 in B-flat minor. The book itself, dated 1722 on its autograph title page, sets a prelude and a fugue in each of the twenty-four major and minor keys.

It is a five-voice fugue in C-sharp minor and 2/2. A slow, solemn first subject of only a few notes is later joined by other, more active subjects, and several subjects are combined as the music builds. It has 1,290 notes in 248 seconds, with a range from C2 to B5 that fits on a 61-key keyboard. The note count is modest for its length, but long-held notes overlap one another.

It is rated advanced. With five voices for two hands, you often have to hold long notes while moving another voice, and devices such as silent finger substitution become essential. Start by listening while following the subject entries in the score view, then lower the playback speed to check each voice's line. Sort out the division between the hands with the hand colours, and listen again closely with an A-B loop where the voices crowd together to balance the overlapping sound.

Bach's collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard, covering all 24 keys and regarded as the summit of contrapuntal writing.