Das Wohltemperierte Clavier I, Praeludium 24
Description
This B minor prelude closes Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Most of the book's preludes run a single figure throughout, but this one is a rare case in which Bach wrote a tempo marking, Andante, and it prepares the end of the collection at a calm, walking pace before the long fugue that follows.
In 4/4, two upper voices intertwine and sing above a bass that walks steadily in eighth notes, a three-part texture reminiscent of a trio sonata, in binary form with each half repeated. Its range runs from C-sharp 2 to C6, so it fits on a 61-key keyboard.
Rated intermediate, it lasts about 2 minutes 7 seconds with 720 notes in this data. The challenge is less finger speed than letting the two upper voices sing as equals above the walking bass; where the right hand carries both, one voice must be held while the other moves. Check which hand takes which voice with the hand colours, and slow the playback to follow the steps of the bass, and the relationship between the three lines becomes much clearer.
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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