![]() In contrast to the iron discipline Bach had to apply to his church compositions, here he could abandon himself to intellectual Spielerei without worrying about deadlines. In the preludes, he gave free rein to his imagination, and demonstrated mathematical tours de force in the fugues. In each of the two parts of the Wohltemperirte Clavier, he brought together the musical couple prelude and fugue 24 times twelve in minor keys and twelve in major. So once again, we clearly see the ease with which technical mastery and incredible expressiveness go hand in hand in Bach’s music.Ĭomposing 48 keyboard pieces in all 24 keys was the sort of challenge Bach enjoyed. Bach subjects the very classical, almost archaic theme to a whole range of contrapuntal techniques. The three-part Fugue is otherwise one of the most well-wrought and strictly constructed of the whole Wolhtemperirte Clavier. It is suspected by some – including Bart Jacobs – that Bach simply took an existing fugue in D for the Fugue in E-flat minor and added the necessary sharps to it (6 of them), thus putting the piece into D-sharp minor, which sounds the same as E-flat minor. The relationship to the Fugue is not very clear. The Prelude already existed in an earlier version, in the pedagogical keyboard book that Bach compiled for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann. The pulse of the three-four time is ever present and the atmosphere is indeed sombre. Bart Jacobs calls it a “tombeau-like funeral march”. ![]() The Prelude is a very stately piece with some beautiful ornamentation. Incidentally, it produced one of the more extensive and ambitious additions to the collection. This key is rarely heard in the Baroque, but in view of the structure of Bach’s project, it had to be included, of course. From the remaining parts of the first book of Das Wohltemperirte Clavier, he chose to play the Prelude and fugue in the unusual key of E-flat minor. Organist and harpsichordist Bart Jacobs lives in the idyllic countryside to the south of Antwerp.
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