Prelude

Description

BWV 924a is numbered as a separate version of material shared with the Prelude in C major, BWV 924. BWV 924 is one of the preludes in the Clavier-Büchlein that Bach began for the keyboard education of his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, and this version has come down to us in the orbit of that teaching repertoire. The details of how it came to exist are unclear, so this page looks at the music itself.

It is a small piece in 4/4: 228 notes in 49 seconds. A prelude is a genre bound to no fixed form; unlike a fugue, which imitates a subject strictly, it is the movement of the harmony itself that carries the music forward. The range runs from C2 to A5, so every note fits on a 61-key digital piano.

It is rated intermediate, but the note count is low and reading it is not a heavy task. The challenge is to hear the moment each chord changes and move into the next sonority without losing the flow of the beat. Start with the playback speed lowered and follow the harmonic changes in the score view; the structure becomes much easier to see. The hand colours show what each hand is doing, and an A-B loop over any spot that trips you up makes this a good short piece for learning to finish something from start to end.

A collection of preludes not tied to a specific set, featuring short, evocative works by composers from Bach to more modern voices.