The Well Tempered Clavier, Bach

Question 1

genre

Answer 1

solo keyboard music

Question 2

composition date

Answer 2

book 1-1722 book 2-1742

Question 3

significance of the title

Answer 3

• 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 instruments other than organ

Question 4

structure

Answer 4

-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 5

prelude facts

Answer 5

key: b flat major
form: incorporates aspects of binary form
tempo: - 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)
meter: 4/4
texture: homophonic and polyphonic

Question 6

prelude facts

Answer 6

• broken chord passages played in breathless thirty second notes and treated sequentially
• features frequent thirty second note runs
• ends in f major and proceeds immediately to the next section
  SECTION B
• continues 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 7

fugue facts

Answer 7

key: b flat major
tempo: - moderately fast
- Bach gave no tempo indication anywhere in the score
meter: 3/4
texture: polyphonic
number of voices: three
type of answer: tonal
Countersubject: - two countersubjects are presented simultaneously throughout the fugue
- they act as accompanying figures to the statements of the subject or answer
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