David's Well-Tempered Clavier Project

J.S. Bach: French Suite IV - Allemande, BWV 518

You couldn’t be blamed for thinking I’d given up. I haven’t, but it’s clear I’m in the “last 5 pounds” phase of this project. Only the most daunting and difficult pieces remain. Meanwhile, here’s an Allemande from one of the French suites that always makes me happy. No further explanation needed.

Because I chose not to approach this project in chronological (or logical) order, I have spent a lot of time flipping through the books of the WTC over the last 2+ years, fishing for the next piece to tackle. This little prelude is one that I tended to flip past. Sandwiched between the prayerful (and approachable) A-flat Major fugue and its masterful 4-voice companion fugue, it looks like an underdog on the page. Difficult to imagine Bach himself invested much in it. But with only 5 pieces left in this project, I had to do it and found, not an underdog, but work of perfect contrapuntal economy.

Bach applied mathematical structure to his music and had a particular affinity for 3s. (Holy Trinity thing.)  This is crazy, but here goes: G-sharp is the 9^th of the 12 semitones. Divisble by 3. Naturally, it follows that the number of this prelude—18—is also divisible by 3. 18/3=6. It’s in a triple meter, 6/8. The subject consists of 9 notes and is stated 10 times right-side up, 5 times inverted. 15 is divisible by 3, and the ratio of subject to inversion is 2/3. The 9-note subject is then sliced into three 3-note chunks and used throughout, in various permutations, as episodic material and to underlie the subject. In the hands of your average serialist composer, mathematics like this would have been dehydrating, but this is Bach.

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier II Fugue IV in C-sharp Minor, BWV 873

This technically hairy fugue from book two might on first hearing sound like Bach being a showoff. It’s a triple-meter dance at a nice clip, with a three voice subject, which Bach inverts a few times and truncates all over the place. Naturally there’s also a strong countersubject, this one deeply chromatic with long, slow note values. It’s a lament, looming in the background while the oblivious subjects dance. In effect, Gather ye rosebuds…

I wasn’t sure at first what to make of this strange prelude, which is probably why I put if off for so long. But as with many of the lesser-known pieces in the WTC, the devil is in the details. Quite literally in this case. After a few weeks of practice, it finally occurred to me that Bach is playing with dissonance here, specifically the tritone interval, formerly known as The Devil in Music.

A tritone refers to two notes that are three whole tones apart from each other, i.e. C and F-sharp. It’s hardly what we would consider dissonant or even unusual today, but The Devil in Music was specifically banned from sacred music by the Council of Trent in the mid-16th century. By the 1700s it had lost its taboo but retained the devilish connotation. Bach uses it a lot in his cantatas where the Devil makes an appearance.

In addition to the tritones all over this prelude, Bach adds those wicked gestures at the end of the main subject… think the devil’s tail lashing the damned. (Use your 18th century imagination.) Long pedal trills and profuse ornamentation also have demonic connotations in Bach’s music. They certainly tormented me!

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier I Fugue XIX in A, BWV 864

A lot of people find this to be one of the quirkier fugues in the WTC, but it’s one of my favorites. The subject’s unusual and long series of ascending 4ths proves to be rich fodder and inspires any number of textural options. Beethoven allegedly loved this fugue, and according to Czerny, played the first note of the subject fortissimo staccato followed by a piano legato finish. I’ve followed his lead on the fortissimo staccato first note, but preferred to remain staccato with the rest of the subject, adding some shape to that lovely, galant hop at the end.

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier II Prelude XXI in B-flat, BWV 890

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier I, Fugue XIV in F-sharp Minor, BWV 859

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier II Fugue XVII in A-flat, BWV 886

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier II Prelude XXIV in B Minor, BWV 893

Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier II Fugue III in C-sharp, BWV 872

Well-Tempered Clavier I Prelude IV in C-sharp Minor, BWV 849

thepiano:

Song of the Day #128- Lady Gaga Fugue

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