Das Wohltemperierte Clavier II, Praeludium II
Description
Where the C minor prelude of Book I ran a single figure like an étude, this one gives two voices equal roles. It is the second prelude of Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Many of the Book II preludes are in binary form with each half repeated, and this is considered one of them.
It is in C minor and 4/4. Written mainly in two voices, it presses on without a break as each voice takes up the motion the other has just stated. The writing is close to a two-part invention, and the harmony shifts as the lines of the two hands intertwine. Its range runs from C2 to A-flat 5, within a 61-key keyboard.
Rated intermediate, it packs 692 notes into about 58 seconds in this data. The task is to play both hands with equal clarity so that each voice is heard as a lead, drawing out the minor-key tension while keeping the momentum going. With its two-voice writing, the hand colours show clearly how the lines pass between the hands. Slow the playback to hear the dialogue of the two hands first, then bring the tempo up.
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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