![]() ![]() There is less clarity about the history of part two. The first part of the Wohltemperirte Clavier dates from 1722, although it contains some music that was written in the preceding five years. 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. But Bach would not be Bach if he did not also seek out the harmonic limits within this relatively strict framework.Ĭomposing 48 keyboard pieces in all 24 keys was the sort of challenge Bach enjoyed. This seemingly improvised Prelude flows quite seamlessly and organically into one of the most rigid fugues of the whole collection, which is even rather academic at first sight. “Sometimes you already catch a whiff of the Fugue theme in the Prelude,” says the Belgian harpsichordist, organist and ensemble conductor Bart Naessens, whose home we visited for this recording. The Prelude ends with a rising festoon of notes that definitively sets the key of B-flat major. It opens with a sequence of characteristic keyboard figures – more passage work than real melodic material – followed by an extremely free passage that is strongly reminiscent of an improvised cadenza. This Prelude and fugue in B-flat major is one of the shorter and least complicated pieces included in the Wohltemperirte Clavier. Here, Bach clearly opts for the somewhat lighter side of B-flat major. ![]() ![]() As usual, authors are not in agreement on the subject. In the Baroque, the key of B-flat major was associated with grand, elevated qualities as well as modest and even dark, melancholy ones. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |