Das Wohltemperierte Clavier I, Fuga XV
Description
A light 6/8 motion runs from the first note to the last in this G major fugue for three voices, one of the liveliest in Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. It is No. 15 of the book, which the autograph dates to 1722 and which gives every major and minor key a prelude and fugue of its own.
It is a three-voice fugue in G major and 6/8. An energetic subject is handed among the three voices and used freely both in its original form and turned upside down. Riding the two broad beats of 6/8, fine motion continues without a break. It is a large piece, 1,691 notes in 230 seconds, with a range from C2 to C6 that fits on a 61-key keyboard.
It is rated advanced. Playing at a light, quick pace for a long time takes concentration to keep the bright character and stamina to keep the three voices moving evenly. It matters to know which voice has the subject, including in its inverted form. Lower the playback speed to check the shape of the subject in the score view, and sort out the three voices with the hand colours. Since the piece is long, finishing it section by section with an A-B loop and then joining them makes the whole manageable.
Bach's collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard, covering all 24 keys and regarded as the summit of contrapuntal writing.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach was the towering figure of German Baroque music, serving for decades as Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Renowned for his mastery of counterpoint, he laid the foundations of keyboard music with works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions. This site includes minuets and polonaises from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, the Inventions and Sinfonias, and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier. The Notebook pieces are catalogued with BWV Anh. (appendix) numbers, but many are by other composers - Petzold's minuets among them - or by no one known, and most of their song pages give the current view of who wrote them.
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