Le clavier bien tempéré I - Prélude 02 BWV 847

About this work

The Prelude in C minor, BWV 847, opens the second prelude-and-fugue pair in Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Its semiquaver pattern repeats with almost mechanical insistence, yet the harmony changes beneath the fingers and gives each bar a different direction. Near the end, the regular flow breaks open into a freer, more dramatic gesture.

Practise the opening pages as blocked chords so that you can hear the bass and the harmonic tensions. Then return to the written pattern, grouping the notes by beat with a supple hand movement. Evenness does not mean giving every note the same weight: the first of each group can guide the phrase while the others maintain the current without becoming percussive.

The final change of character must be prepared by everything that precedes it. Resist the urge to accelerate too soon; keep some reserve of tempo and sound for the closing bars. This score ends with the prelude: the C minor fugue that follows it in the collection is not included. The synthetic playback can help check the rhythm, but cannot replace attention to the harmonic journey.

What the document containsThe Prelude in C minor, BWV 847, only.One 2-page PDF score for piano or keyboard.One MIDI file for practice.The BWV 847 fugue is not included in this document.