Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's Prelude and Fugue in C major,

BWV The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2 ...

531, is a prelude and fugue in

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and i ...

, written for the organ 1707.

Composition

Unlike most of his other organ preludes and fugues, the Prelude and Fugue in C major was written when Bach was in Arnstadt. Once he arrived there in 1703, he immediately fell in love with the Neue Kirche (now renamed in commemoration to Bach the ''Bachkirche''.) He would secure his job as church organist at the Neue Kirche a few weeks after playing in the church. It is here where he met his future first wife,

Maria Barbara Bach Maria Barbara Bach ( – buried 7 July 1720) was the first wife of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. She was also the daughter of his father's cousin Johann Michael Bach. Life Maria Barbara Bach was born at Gehren, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, to ...

Structure

Prelude

In the prelude, the first 9 measures are played with solo

pedals A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control ...

alone, with a recurring sixteenth-note figure culminating in an unusual for the time pedal trill. The manuals then come in with a sixteenth-note figure. In the twenty-sixth measure, a 5 measure phrase of diatonic parallel sixths in the manuals and a pedal tone in the pedals occurs. In the 38th measure to the end of the Prelude, the right hand plays a fast, fantasia-like passage, with fast descending scales culminating in a loud C major chord.

Fugue

The fugue begins with the subject in the soprano voice, with the entirety of the subject being in sixteenth notes. The subject is two measures long. The alto voice is then introduced, transposed down a fifth. Then, the subject is introduced in the tenor voice, down a fourth. In this fugue, the pedals never play the subject as it was originally introduced in the soprano voice, but only as a fragment.

References

External links

*
Free download of BWV 531
recorded by

James Kibbie James Kibbie (born March 13, 1949) is an American concert organist, recording artist and pedagogue. He is Professor of Organ at the University of Michigan. Biography Kibbie was born in 1949 in Vinton, Iowa, USA. He graduated from Davenport We ...

on the 1717 Trost organ in St. Walpurgis, Großengottern, Germany {{Instrumental music by Johann Sebastian Bach Preludes by Johann Sebastian Bach Fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach Compositions for organ Compositions in C major