Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was better known as a
virtuoso organist than as a composer in his day. His
sacred music, organ and choral works, and other
instrumental music had an enthusiasm and seeming
freedom that concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of
counterpoint was brilliant and innovative, and the
immense complexities of his compositional style --
which often included religious and numerological
symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in a
profound puzzle of special codes -- still ...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was better known as a
virtuoso organist than as a composer in his day. His
sacred music, organ and choral works, and other
instrumental music had an enthusiasm and seeming
freedom that concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of
counterpoint was brilliant and innovative, and the
immense complexities of his compositional style --
which often included religious and numerological
symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in a
profound puzzle of special codes -- still amaze
musicians today. Many consider him the greatest
composer of all time.
The first book of Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier
(The Well-Tempered Clavier) was complete by 1722. Bach
gave the present title to the work, which was composed
"for the use and practice of musical youth eager to
learn and for the amusement of those already skilled in
this study." Bach composed a paired Prelude and Fugue
in each of the 24 keys to demonstrate the viability of
the new "equal-temperament" system, which allows one to
play in all keys without producing out-of-tune
intervals, as happened with Pythagorean and "mean tone"
tunings. Furthermore, the pieces are as much
compositional studies as keyboard works.
Twenty years later, Bach assembled another set of
preludes and fugues. The title page is missing from the
manuscript, but its similarity to the "first" book of
The Well-Tempered Clavier led editors to entitle it
"Book II." Bach worked on the second book over a long
period of time, even reworking pieces he had written
for other purposes, as he had in the first book. Some
of the preludes and fugues date from the 1720s.
Possibly the most substantial revision for the second
book was to No. 3, in C sharp major, which was
originally in C major. Fugues Nos. 15 and 17 survive in
earlier versions in which they are connected with
different preludes than we find in The Well-Tempered
Clavier.
There are many musical differences between the works of
Book II and those of Book I. The preludes in the second
group explore a greater range of forms and styles than
do the earlier examples. Most striking are the
experiments in the style of the Italian bipartite
keyboard sonata, codified by Domenico Scarlatti. Like
earlier dance movements, these consist of two repeated
sections. Some of the "sonata" preludes in Book II,
such as Nos. 5, 12, and 21, feature a recapitulation of
the opening material, while others (Nos. 10 and 15)
have parallel closing sections. Prelude No. 17 is an
Italian concert-ritornello movement; Nos. 13 and 23
also display concerto traits. The tenth is a two-part
invention and Nos. 4 and 14 are ariosos. Those that are
clearly derived form dance forms -- No. 5 from the
gigue and No. 8 from the allemande -- lack the
traditional binary form.
Like the fugues of Book I, those of Book II employ
every device of formal fugue writing. In terms of
compositional economy, No. 2 of the second Book is a
masterpiece -- in the first 28 measures there are 24
statements of the one-measure subject, producing almost
painfully dense counterpoint. Fifteen of the fugues are
in three voices; nine are in four. Four of these (Nos.
4, 17, 18 and 23) are double fugues and No. 14 is a
triple fugue, the third subject of which recalls a
subject from the C sharp minor Fugue of Book I. In
general, the fugues of Book II are thematically more
restrained than those of Book I. Instead, Bach seems to
experiment with the contrapuntal potential inherent in
each of the fugue subjects.
This determined, forward-pressing but not too speedy
two-part invention serves as the final prelude in
Bach's monumental Well-Tempered Clavier. The lower
voice imitates the upper at an octave's interval, and
successive entries shift through related keys. The
fugue announces itself with a passepied theme in the
alto voice, with soprano and bass subsequently joining
in. A countersubject accompanies these entries, without
significantly differentiating itself from the main
theme. A wholly new subject does arrive in the bass,
initially as an accompaniment to the second entrance of
the main subject, and thereafter serves as the
principal theme's constant companion.
Although originally created for Keyboard (Harpsichord),
I created this orchestral harp arrangement to highlight
the light and airy arpeggios of the prelude as well as
the delicate interplay between the voices in the fugue.
PARTITION