The Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor,
BWV 867, is a keyboard composition by
Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the 22nd prelude and fugue in the first book of ''
The Well-Tempered Clavier
''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...
'', a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer. It was composed in 1722 or earlier.
Prelude
The prelude is in the style of an
arioso, with up to seven nominal voices manifesting in only three distinct strands. The prelude's structure is bipartite, divided in half by a
cadence. British music critic
John Alexander Fuller Maitland
John Alexander Fuller Maitland (7 April 1856 – 30 March 1936) was an influential British music critic and scholar from the 1880s to the 1920s. He encouraged the rediscovery of English music of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly Henry Pu ...
compared it with the ''
St Matthew Passion
The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...
''.
Below are the opening bars of the prelude:
\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff = "up" \with
<<
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t
\tempo 8 = 80
\clef treble \key bes \minor \time 4/4
\new Voice \relative c''
\new Voice \relative c'
>>
\new Staff = "down" <<
\clef bass \key bes \minor \time 4/4
\new Voice \relative c'
\new Voice \relative c'
>>
>>
Fugue
Among the fugues in ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''s first book, BWV 867's fugue is the closest to ''
stile antico
''Stile antico'' (literally "ancient style", ), is a term describing a manner of musical composition from the sixteenth century onwards that was historically conscious, as opposed to '' stile moderno'', which adhered to more modern trends. ''Prim ...
''. The fugue is in five voices, and its
subject
Subject ( la, subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to:
Philosophy
*''Hypokeimenon'', or ''subiectum'', in metaphysics, the "internal", non-objective being of a thing
**Subject (philosophy), a being that has subjective experiences, subjective cons ...
stands out for its use of a wide minor
ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.
Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...
interval and "rhetorical" pause. Instead of substantial
episodes, there are only two
canonic bridges. The fugue climaxes in a five-part
stretto
In music, the Italian term ''stretto'' (plural: ''stretti'') has two distinct meanings:
# In a fugue, ''stretto'' (german: Engführung) is the imitation of the subject in close succession, so that the answer enters before the subject is complete ...
before ending on a
Picardy third.
Below are the first two statements of the subject in the fugue's opening:
\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff = "up"
<<
\clef treble \key bes \minor \time 4/4
\new Voice \relative c''
\new Voice \relative c'
>>
>>
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
The Well-Tempered Clavier
Compositions in B-flat minor
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