Listen
to me playing Baroque style music at the piano from Bach’s …
Well Tempered Clavier
(scroll down for a description)
Click on the sheet music below to listen….
BOOK I
Prelude I in C
major
Note: 150 years after this book was published,
this prelude was used as the basis for the composition
of Ave Maria,
a work by Charles Gounoe which has
become one of the most beloved arias of all time.
Fugue I in C major
Prelude II in C
minor
Fugue II in C
minor
Prelude V in D
major
Fugue V in D major
BOOK II
Note: book 2 was published 22 years after
book 1 in 1744…to me the works are centuries
closer to us in modernity.
Prelude I in C
major
Fugue I in C major
Note: this fugue was chosen by the famous
astrologer Carl Sagan to be digitized and sent with the
Voyager
space craft which has left our solar system.
Prelude II in C minor
Fugue II in C
minor
Prelude V in D
major
(not here, still working on it)
The Well Tempered Clavier
by
J.
S. Bach
The image to the left shows the original cover. First published in 1722, it is generally regarded
as one of the most influential works in the history of Western Classical Music.
examples:
Mozart as a young genius
upon first hearing Bach’s music remarked that this was music he could learn
from. Indeed, Mozart’s “Fantasy and
Fugue“ uses themes from the A-flat fugue in this book. He went on to publish more than 600 works in
his short lifetime of 35 years.
Beethoven’s piano
concerts in his youth included performances of parts of it and they were
considered part of his star attraction.
His use of remote modulations in his compositions as an adult strongly
reflect the wondrous modulations first demonstrated by Bach in this book of
music.
Note: to read more about this
remarkable book, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_Tempered_Clavier
.