Le clavier bien tempéré I - Fugue 10 BWV 855

About this work

The subject of the Fugue in E minor sets off with an almost instrumental momentum: a clear attack, a lively line and an answer that arrives before the energy subsides. With three voices the texture remains light, but crossings between the hands can quickly obscure the next entry.

Sing the subject, then play it wherever it appears without the other voices. Add just one accompanying voice next. The aim is not to keep the subject permanently louder, but to preserve its articulation and direction within the surrounding motion.

Keep the momentum without rushing

Practise the 42 bars at a tempo that keeps every quaver even. Locate the passages where a voice changes hands and prepare the movement before reaching them. As the tempo rises, retain the phrase endings: swallowing them removes the breaths that organise the fugue.

About this document


Reading: two staves are sufficient to follow the three voices of this keyboard piece.
Length: the 42-bar journey occupies two US Letter pages. The audio version contains 810 note attacks.
Source: Bach's composition is in the public domain. Knute Snortum's LilyPond transcription is distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0. LesPartitions.info checked the identity and pitches, exported the required formats and added its address to the score.