Das Wohltemperierte Clavier I, Praeludium XVII
Description
Four flats set the key of A-flat major for this bright, open prelude, one of the most expansive pieces in the second half of the collection. It is No. 17 of Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier.
In 3/4, the opening theme is stated as a complete unit, after which fragments of it alternate with transitional passagework as the music travels through several keys. Since the opening theme keeps returning, the piece is sometimes likened to the alternation of tutti and solo in a concerto. Its range runs from E-flat 2 to B-flat 5, within a 61-key keyboard. The fugue that follows is in four voices and keeps the bright A-flat major sound of the prelude.
Rated intermediate, it lasts about 1 minute 14 seconds with 660 notes in this data. There are few major technical hurdles, but the tasks are to keep the lightness of triple time in a key full of black notes, and to give the theme a clear outline so it is recognised each time it returns. Follow which hand has the theme with the hand colours, and use an A-B loop to compare the places where it comes back, and the construction of the piece becomes visible.
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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