Prelude and Fugue in B Flat Major, The Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1

Question 1

Description

Answer 1

The well tempered clavier demonstrates a craftsmanship bordering on wizardry. Bach employed a vast array of contrapuntal devices and approaches throughout both volumes, and there is great variety from one piece to the next. This work is an enduring and monumental contribution to keyboard literature.
The fugues of the well tempered clavier showcase Bachs brilliant contrapuntal mastery, employing a wide array of devices and procedures. Fugal subjects are manipulated using inversion (subject presented “upside down”), augmentation (subject presented in longer time values), and diminution (subject presented in shorter time values).

Question 2

Genre

Answer 2

solo keyboard music

Question 3

composition date

Answer 3

book 1-1722, book 2-1742

Question 4

significance of title

Answer 4

• well tempered refers to the then newly invented tuning system for keyboard instruments that allowed for pieces to be written in any key.
• clavier is the German word for any keyboard instrument other than organ

Question 5

structure

Answer 5

• two books, each book contains twenty-four preludes and fugues organized in pairs of parallel major and minor keys
• each book begins with preludes and fugues in c major and c minor then moves up chromatically by half step, ending with B major and b minor

Question 6

Prelude: key

Answer 6

b flat major

Question 7

prelude: form

Answer 7

incorporates aspects of binary form

Question 8

prelude: tempo

Answer 8

• no specific indication on score
• style implies a quick tempo, in the manner of a toccata (a very fast keyboard work demonstrating a virtuosic, improvisatory character)

Question 9

prelude: meter

Answer 9

4/4

Question 10

prelude: texture

Answer 10

homophonic and polyphonic

Question 11

prelude: section a facts

Answer 11

• broken chord passages played in breathless thirty-second notes and treated sequentially
• features frequent thirty-second note runs
• ends in f major (dominant key) and proceeds immediately to the next section

Question 12

prelude: section b facts

Answer 12

• continues the toccata-like style with rapid cadenza-like runs that emerge from arpeggiated seventh chords
• requires virtuosity throughout
• its improvisatory style contrasts with the controlled order demonstrated in the fugue that follows

Question 13

fugue:key

Answer 13

b flat major

Question 14

fugue: tempo

Answer 14

• moderately fast
• Bach gave no tempo indications anywhere in the score

Question 15

fugue: meter

Answer 15

3/4

Question 16

fugue: number of voices

Answer 16

three

Question 17

fugue: type of answer

Answer 17

tonal

Question 18

fugue: countersubject

Answer 18

• two countersubjects are presented simultaneously throughout the fugue
• they act as accompanying figures to the statements of the subject or answer

Question 19

fugal exposition: facts

Answer 19

• subject in b flat major presented in top voice (unusually long)
• comprises two motives: the first is mostly disjunct outlining the tonic-dominant seventh harmony, while the second is conjunct, outlining the same harmonies