Das Wohltemperierte Clavier I, Praeludium XV
Description
The first major-key prelude in the second half of Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier is this one in G major, No. 15, a short, bright, étude-like piece.
Throughout its 4/4, the right hand plays a broken-chord figure in sixteenths without a break, while the left hand supports the beat with a bass mainly in eighth notes. Partway through, the hands exchange roles, and the figure spreads up and down as the harmony moves on. The whole is short and runs straight through to the end in bright sound. Its range runs from D2 to C6, within a 61-key keyboard. The fugue that follows is a lively three-voice fugue in 6/8 that carries on the prelude's brightness.
Rated intermediate, it holds 608 notes in about 1 minute 12 seconds in this data, a fair number for its length. The tasks are to catch each broken chord quickly as a hand shape and lay out the sixteenths evenly; it also serves as practice for smooth thumb crossings. Check which hand has the figure with the hand colours, learn the shapes with slower playback, and bring it gradually towards tempo for a steady result.
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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