Das Wohltemperierte Clavier II, Fuga I

Description

A lively subject with running sixteenth notes travels nimbly through three voices in this C major fugue, the first fugue of Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Like Book I, Book II is a set of preludes and fugues passing through all twenty-four major and minor keys; it was compiled around the early 1740s.

Set in 2/4, the subject is combined contrapuntally amid light, quick motion. Where the C major fugue that opens Book I proceeds slowly in four voices, this one moves lightly in three, quite different in character. On a 61-key keyboard the whole C2-to-C6 compass is available.

An advanced piece, it lasts about 2 minutes 48 seconds with 1,030 notes in this data. The tasks are to play the quick subject with the same clarity in whichever voice it appears, and to divide the fingers where one hand carries two voices. To keep track of each entry, slow the playback and listen for the three voices separately, and use an A-B loop on places where entries overlap; the construction of the fugue then becomes much easier to follow. Played together with the first prelude of Book II, it gives a sense of the pair as the opening of the book.

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