Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 06/02/2010, uploaded on 12/17/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

This prelude and fugue is from a collection of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys composed in 1722 "for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study." Bach later compiled a second book of the same kind, dated 1742. The two works comprise The Well-Tempered Clavier and are referred to respectively as Books I and II.

The preludes are structurally free, although many exhibit typical Baroque forms, often with an extended coda. Each fugue is marked with the number of voices, from two to five. Most are three- and four-voiced fugues. The fugues employ a full range of contrapuntal devices, but are generally more compact than Bach's fugues for organ.      Jiyeon Shin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.