Description
The second of the four duets, BWV 802 to 805, in Part III of the Clavier-Übung, published in 1739. Part III centres on chorale preludes for organ, and these four pieces in only two voices stand near its end. They proceed through E minor, F major, G major and A minor.
In F major and 2/4, it is written in counterpoint, the two voices moving as equals, one imitating the melody the other has just stated. With 1,408 notes in 169 seconds, about eight per second, it is lively, and its range, C2 to C6, fits on a 61-key keyboard.
Rated advanced. There are only two voices, but each hand plays its own melody with equal weight, and their imitation of each other must be heard. It tests the independence of the hands learned in the inventions at greater length and density. Follow the subject between the hands with the hand colours, and practise passages isolated with the A-B loop at a reduced playback speed. The score view also shows where each imitation begins.
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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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