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Prelude and Fugue XVII in A-Flat Major
The Prelude opens like a lively overture - not an ouverture à la française - on broad consonant chords... On these Bach displays a motive which evolves into a dialogue in double counterpoint... The perpetual questions and answers in imitation from one voice to another give to this piece an exuberant life full of joy... What is most striking is that this Prelude leads into a meditative, quiet Fugue, serene and calm... Follow the episodes and notice with what generosity they sing... For the last time, as a farewell, the theme appears in the soprano... The alto voice joins it with a phrase of intense love...
Prelude and Fugue XVIII in G-Sharp Minor
The theme of this Prelude is contained entirely in the first measure... Its expression of innocence and timidity touches us... Bach imitates it in the bass, carries it along by progressions in the soprano and - supporting it by dotted quarter-notes - joins to it in the middle voice an undulating motive which is something like a dance... The slurs, Bach's own, confirm this dance movement which is continued in the whole piece... Imitations, inversions, slurs - it is thus that the piece unfolds... Enjoy the reappearance in the next-to-the-last measure of the initial motive inverted in the middle voice...
The Fugue is somber - all the more impressive after the tenderness of the Prelude... The 'step'-motive becomes more and more threatening as the Fugue advances... Bach emphasizes its power with short and violent chords... It is generally assumed that this is a youthful work... And yet it is a work full of maturity...
Prelude and Fugue XIX in A Major
This prelude is one of those very frequent instances in Bach in which the character of the piece speaks to us of grace and innocence while being the product of the highest knowledge... It is a kind of light, transparent dance in which each voice suggests to us a different idea... The whole is held together by the most refined triple counterpoint...
The theme of the Fugue progresses in ascending fourths, a pattern somewhat rare in Bach... At measure 20, on the dominant, the bass stops, while the soprano and alto go on, still on fourths, in happy leaps...
At measure 23 appears a theme in conjunct sixteenths which forms a striking contrast with the opening theme... One is keenly aware that Bach feels the need of these sixteenths in opposition to the intervals of fourths... Almost all commentators consider these sixteenths a counter-subject... What is certain is that the contrast of the opening theme to the stated counter-subject and to their interplay inspired Bach to say exquisite, tender and mischievous things... It must be noted that this Fugue escapes conventional analysis and all commentators recognize this...
Prelude and Fugue XX in A Minor
The Prelude is a gracious and playful dance... Commentators do not admit that, light and careless, it is rightly coupled to an imposing Fugue with its grandiose ending... Even if these pieces were composed during different periods, we do know that it is Bach himself who selected and coupled them... Who knows - perhaps it is the contrast of grace and power which pleased Bach? The commentators also have little enthusiasm for the Fugue... Probably they have been influenced by Spitta, who found it pedantic and lacking in imagination... In their miscomprehension they dare to accuse it of being deficient in rhythmic energy - this piece full of arder, of fire, of extraordinary drive!
The appearance of the pedal board (measure 83) crowns their dissatisfaction... But let us move on and consider this Fugue with the admiration it deserves...
Prelude and Fugue XXI in B-Flat Major
The Prelude is composed of three different elements - large broken chords, in a way never before used by Bach in The Well-Tempered Clavier; rolling scales, which Rameau calls 'roulements'; and chords struck in French rhythm... A dazzling and bold piece which makes demands on the high virtuosity of the harpsichordist...
Follow the middle voices, so beautiful and expressive, which insinuate themselves into the seventeenth measure...
In the Fugue, Bach calms himself and plays happily in the cheerful company of the subject and the two counter-subjects... And listen to the carillon in the counter-subject in measure 7 and all similar passages...
Prelude and Fugue XXII in B-Flat Minör
Prelude XXII is sublime... Despite the fact that it soars, it is remarkable in that it can be followed, even by the layman...
How can we explain this? Is it because the melodic element, of a great simplicity, reigns in this piece? Is it because of the regular motion of its rhythm? Is it the overwhelming richness of its chords which brings with them fullness and bliss?
Follow from measure 20 the soaring of the melody, enriched with harmonies, toward the organ-point, and in the last measure, in the tenor, the phrase of such intense expression - a phrase of farewell...
It is noteworthy that this Prelude, so simple in its immense richness, is coupled with a Fugue in five parts of consummate counterpoint... Bach states the subject imperatively on the tonic, then drops it a fourth and boldly leaps over the rest in order to reach the ninth...
Now, one of these silences which do not interrupt the train of thought, but on the contrary, breathe into it an increase of life... Now, one of these 'durezza' which arouse the passions and break the uniformity of the half-notes... Yes, these are the half-notes which reign imperiously from the beginning to the end, softened by quarter-notes...
There are five episodes, several 'stretti', and, beginning at measure 67, an admirable 'stretto maestrale'...
Prelude and Fugue XXIII in B Major
Bach is in a diatonic mood...
The Prelude and the Fugue form a unified whole... The same bucolic atmosphere reigns in both pieces... The Prelude opens on an organ-point and announces a motive whose first notes will become the subject of the Fugue...
All in this Fugue is serenity and sweetness... The voices engage in an affectionate dialogue, and even the minor passes by lightly without leaving a trace... At measure 16 an innocent flute appears and disappears... Happily it returns (measure 31) and the Fugue closes in perfect bliss...
Prelude and Fugue XXIV in B Minor
Prelude XXIV is admirably organized... Composed of forty-seven measures, it is divided into two parts by a double bar... From the beginning the soprano and the alto form a duo which advances in the purest writing for two voices to the very end of the piece... This duo is supported by a bass of uninterrupted eighth-notes...
Compare this bass with the violins and alto parts of the duo of the St. Matthew Passion, 'So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen' (fifth measure) . See in the one as well as in the other the continuity of the movement (in common time) , the restlessness, the insistence of the eighth-notes...
And now is it not evident that it is necessary to ease up when one is faced with phrases like those of measure 43 and following, where the collision of harmonies and the accumulation of dissonances really demand it?
The indication andante at the head of the Prelude is Bach's... Likewise from his hand are the largo at the head of the Fugue and the slurs over the eighth-notes of the subject... These slurs make us think of the recitative, 'Ach wer dock schon im Himmel war! ' of Cantata 146, Wir miissen durch viel Trubsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen, at the spot, 'Mein Gott das jdllt mir schwer.'
The Fugue is in four parts, clashing with dissonances of a terrifying beauty... But see, here are the episodes which bring the tender warmth of the conversing voices of the soprano and bass... There are eight, of which the most impressive is the third (measures 17-20) .
It is significant that Bach ends the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier with a Prelude and a Fugue which have in them the gravity and depth of the Passions...
Book II
Prelude and Fugue I in C Major
The second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier opens with a Prelude which proudly displays the key of C major... Grounded on an organ-point, a motive in sixteenths appears in the upper voice... One must see in this motive much more than just a series of sixteenths... This is condensed and intricate writing... It expands from a single voice into many voices by means of broken chords enriched with passing notes... Three measures before the end the organ-point reappears, and the Prelude concludes in sonorous splendor...
The Fugue is of an extreme simplicity... It contains none of the devices we might expect after the magnificence and refinement of the Prelude... But its dynamism is extraordinary, its gait vehement and yet not feverish... The close repetitions of the subject drive us along... The end is abrupt: a high-strung horse which pulls up short in full gallop... By all means, no allargando! Let us respect the noble pace of a thoroughbred...
Prelude and Fugue II in C Minor
Prelude II is written entirely in two voices and reminds us of The Inventions... It is divided into two parts by a double bar... The soprano states a motive in sixteenths sustained by a bass of light eighths... This motive is imitated from the second measure on by the bass, while the light eighths go over to the soprano... A chain of progressions follows with mordents which should be played rapidly and lightly without encumbering the passage work... Modulations lead on to the relative major where Bach, with a brief arpeggio, ends the first section... In the second Bach amuses himself with inversions; the soprano takes back the motive in sixteenths, slightly modified... The bass contradicts it in the following measure, inverting the motive... How teasing this inversion is! It surprises the more, since the Fugue which follows is grave and mystical...
In spite of its condensation, this Fugue contains a subject in augmentation and inversion, two stretti, etc., devices generally found in fugues of greater proportions... Its character is inspired by the Magnificats of Pachelbel, precursor of Johann Sebastian and friend of the Bach family... It is Pachelbel who sets the tempo of this Fugue...
Prelude and Fugue III in C-Sharp Major
This Prelude, even though a rest is missing in the alto, is entirely in four parts... The murmur of arpeggios intermingled with passing notes continues throughout... Listen to the tireless beats in the tenor and the low repeated notes in the bass, which remind us of a clock marking the hours... An organ-point supports the whole edifice... The Allegro, a light and gracious fughetta of twenty-six measures, ends the Prelude...
And here the Fugue itself appears, at first restrained, but soon triumphant... From the second measure Bach inverts the subject... Augmentations, diminutions, stretti follow, for Bach is in high spirits and amuses himself royally... In the midst of indescribable tumult - a tumult governed, needless to say, by the imperious grip of Bach - the eighths roll, the sixteenths rumble, the thirty-seconds crackle... At measure 27 the subject in augmentation thunders in the bass and imposes order in this supreme Fugue...
Prelude and Fugue IV in C-Sharp Minor
The Prelude, three voices from beginning to end, calls for the whine of the oboes d'amore or da caccia... It is crowded with ornaments of every kind - mordents, appoggiaturas fast and slow, etc. - which create uncertainty and confusion as to their realization... But happily the paternal foresight of Bach reassures us... Each of these ornaments is made clear by Bach himself in the course of the piece... Thus we can play the Prelude, certain that we are following his intention...
The Fugue unrolls in triplets... Avoid treating it like a gigue... The mood of this Fugue is incontestably serious and demands a moderate tempo... The triplets proceed gently, but have to be played with a certain weight in order to express the value of each note...
Prelude and Fugue V in D Major
The Prelude reminds us of the opening chorus of the Christmas Oratorio and of the Allegro from the Ouverture to the Partita for Harpsichord in D Major, No. 4. In spite of the difference in type and time-signature, the same D major, the same powerful drive dominates these three pieces... Jubilant, triumphant, we imagine this Prelude played by trumpets... In this spirit it should be performed... Of vast scope, divided into two sections by a double bar, this Prelude prophesies the sonata form... Imitations in similar and contrary motion sparkle throughout the piece...
After the jubilation of the Prelude, a meditative Fugue... Why this contrast? Bach did it purposely in order to create supreme serenity and plenitude...
Prelude and Fugue VI in D-Minor
The Prelude and the Fugue in D minor send us again into a world of affinities... The Prelude is a virtuoso piece which demands the double-keyboard of the harpsichord... Its flow is torrential and reminds us of the Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in the same key... Compare the first measure of the Prelude with the first measure of the Finale of the Concerto... Besides, we find in the Prelude - as well as in the first and third movements of the Concerto - one of the most characteristic effects of double-keyboard, among others, batteries...
The Fugue is grave... The triplets of the subject, as in the C-sharp minor Fugue, flow smoothly, but with a certain weight... To understand this Fugue we must study The Art of the Fugue - namely, Contrapunctus 13, Canon alia Ottava, Canon alia Decima, Canon alia Duodecima, and Fuga a Due Claviere... There we find, among other resemblances, the flowing triplets, the opposition of these triplets to the same binary values, the chromaticism... The study of The Art of the Fugue helps us understand the deep beauty and the art of this Fugue in D minor...
Prelude and Fugue VII in E-Flat Major
Compare this Prelude in E-flat major to the prelude in the same key from Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro (recorded in A Treasury of Harpsichord Music) . We notice how certain tonalities inspire Bach to a particular writing which creates bonds between pieces of the same key... This Prelude VII, influenced by the lute style, is a dreamlike soliloquy followed by a concise and powerful Fugue which evokes an a capella choir... In the magnificent episode from the forty-third to the fifty-eighth measures the voices converse with humor... The Fugue concludes in overwhelming joy...
Prelude and Fugue VIII in D-Sharp Minor
The Prelude is divided by a double bar into two parts of nearly equal length... The imitations pass from one voice to the other... Once more, let us be careful not to play too fast... The sixteenths are intermingled with thirty-seconds, indisputable proof that the tempo is moderate, for they must not be rushed, but played with a clear and expressive touch... The mood is veiled melancholy... The very nature of this Prelude is revealed by a motive in the last two measures of the first and second sections... A surprise: this motive is a gavotte, a French bergerette of the eighteenth century...
The Fugue is as meditative as that in D major, but the melancholy of the Prelude does not leave us... From the fortieth measure, where the theme appears in the bass, Bach introduces clusters of chords which sustain the structure and give impressive grandeur to the whole before the final entrance of the theme in the treble...
Prelude and Fugue IX in E Major
The Prelude, divided into two parts by a double bar, is written strictly in three voices, with the exception of the last two measures... I hardly dare apply the term 'strict' to writing so warm and affecting... The sixteenths converse from voice to voice... Notice the rocking movement of the eighths from measure 18 on, as well as in similar places of the second section...
In measures 32-34 and 41-42 we find the ornament 'turn' written out, as if Bach took us by the hand and warned us: 'Above all, play it on the beat, and not like some performers who, taking advantage of my absence, anticipate it! ' True, this warning would have been superfluous to a contemporary of Bach, who would have known how to carry out the turn...
I always dreamed of hearing the E major Fugue sung by an a capella choir, for I felt it was more vocal than instrumental... My dream was once fulfilled years ago in Paris... A few of my friends in the Chanteurs de St. Gervais sang it for me; and it confirmed my belief...
This four-part Fugue is of incomparable magnificence... Its complex art is handled with unbelievable ease by Bach; glowing with the key of E major, it is one of the most perfect works of music...
Prelude and Fugue X in E Minor
The Prelude is a kind of two-part Invention in binary form with a double bar... Though only in two voices, the writing is rich and complex... The trill, measure 33, starts with C-sharp, not with C-natural, as certain editions erroneously have it...
The Prelude, quiet and peaceful, does not announce its Fugue, which is combative... The staccato dashes in the Fugue are Bach's own... They are of great importance because the staccati confer on the piece a character of vehemence and underline the rhythm of the triplets...
From measure 68 on, Bach announces a climax which he extends into imposing dimensions for eighteen measures... Yet, the tempo must maintain its moderation... This can only give greater intensity to the power of the entire Fugue...
The phrase in the eighty-second measure reminds us of Bela Bartok's direction, 'Parlando-rubato', apropos of a folk song... This rubato is indispensable... The storm abates at measure 86, and the Fugue ends on a Picardy third...
Prelude and Fugue XI in F Major
Written in five voices, the Prelude is a poem which opens to us horizons of infinite space through stages of succeeding modulations... But who would expect what Bach prepares for us? For after a Prelude which soars high, comes a Fugue terrestrial and lively...
Most editions indicate grazioso or scherzando... Yet this Fugue is just a gigue... Not so violent as the Finale of the G Minor Concerto (Harpsichord and Strings) , for instance, but retaining nonetheless the marked features of a gigue... Though not grazioso, not scherzando, it must have the verve and the character of a gigue...
From the seventeenth measure on, the motive in the bass -the tail of the subject- imitated by the middle voice, then by the treble, and in the following measure once again by the bass, contains a surprise... This motive I recognize in measure 3 of the Prelude of Bach's English Suite in A Major... It is not marked Gigue in the English Suite, but we find the name in Dieupart, Le Roux, Marchand, etc., above pieces whose motives are analogous to that of the English Suite... This motive was dear to the French clavecinistes (cf. Pirro: l'Esthetique de Bach, p. 430) .
Prelude and Fugue XII in F Minor
Does not the motive in the bass of this Prelude (in two parts with a double bar) remind us of Beethoven's 'Eroica' in measures 1 and 2 and again in measures 8-9 and 28-29? Above the bass comes a procession of appoggiaturas... Measures 4 to 8 and 16 to 20 clearly reveal writing for the two keyboards of the harpsichord... This has escaped the notice of commentators... Even worse, how could this weaving of broken chords, so characteristic of the harpsichord, be mistaken for an accompaniment of an imaginary sentimental melody or turned into rapid passage-work? Appoggiaturas, broken chords, measures 20 to 24, the entrancing progressions (measures 36 to 39) -all these are proof enough that the piece ought to be played, if not slowly, at least in a moderate tempo... And what can be said of the last two measures? Are they not almost an implied recitative?
The Fugue in F minor sways us by the continuity of its sharp, dancelike rhythm and, like the Fugue in E minor, Book I, does not display any device of counterpoint...
Prelude and Fugue XIII in F-Sharp Minor
Bach makes use of a dotted rhythm 'à la francaise' throughout the Prelude... In spite of it, this Prelude never gives an impression of angularity... It glides, gently and fluidly... The end, wrapped in chords, gives us a glimpse into the free way Bach must have played this Prelude - as if improvising... But leave this speculation to the realm of daydreams... By all means, go no further...
In the Fugue, start the trill of the subject on the upper note... I know it is almost too much to ask of interpreters today... If necessary, they will agree to a trill on the upper note in the course of a piece... But to start with it!
The counter-subject with its irresistible gavotte rhythm is as important in this Fugue as the subject... Bach elaborates it in the episodes...
Prelude and Fugue XIV in F-Sharp Minor
The treble of the Prelude is a cantilena of love and tenderness, a true aria for oboe d'amore, interspersed with triplets and broken syncopations... The bass and middle voice escort it and never leave it...
The Fugue is built upon three subjects... To each one Bach gives a different character... The main subject, which opens the Fugue, announces the epic of a soul heroic, grave, and deeply tender... To begin, Bach elaborates it... The second subject - which enters in the second part of measure 20 - slightly dotted, starts on the upbeat, like a speech interrupted and renewed... The third subject - which comes in the second half of measure 36 - is entirely in sixteenths - soft murmur, monotonous, a background against which the eighths stand out and acquire their full meaning...
The imitations, allusions to subjects and counter-subjects appear and reappear perpetually... The three subjects combined fill the second half of the Fugue... The construction, the mood, and the third subject show an undeniable resemblance to the C-sharp minor Fugue of Book I... The miracle of this music is that in creating it Bach does not concern himself with construction alone... The liberties he takes prove it... Otherwise, how could he be so divinely inspired?
When Bach writes of sorrow, it never crushes us... Perhaps because there is no trace of bitterness... This music, even if it describes rebellion or anguish, fortifies us...
Prelude and Fugue XV in G Major
Strange that whenever a performer meets sixteenths, he automatically takes too fast a tempo... Such is the case with this Prelude in two sections with double bar... And really it does not deserve this fate... Tranquil, bucolic, grounded on an organ-point, it whispers gently, as if to warn us, 'Enjoy the calm; you will see, the Fugue is quite different! '
And here is the Fugue, bristling with a dancing 3/8 rhythm... Waltz? 'Courante à l'italienne'? It is difficult to tell...
In approaching the minor, from the twenty-fifth measure on, the Fugue grows lighter, but not for long... More brilliant than ever, it rings with trills, in the treble, middle voice, and bass... A bravura passage in thirty-seconds rolls across the keyboard and leads to the theme, which appears for the last time in the middle voice...
Prelude and Fugue XVI in G Minor
The indication Largo is Bach's own... This Prelude, in strict four parts, written in the purest 'stile francese', reminds us of Couperin, particularly the Ténébreuse (Ordre 3) ... Do not look for a literal resemblance... But the proud magnificence, the gravity, the atmosphere of Couperin's incomparable piece we find in this Prelude...
When Bach takes possession of a certain rhythm, he does not let go... The Fugue in A minor, Book I, proves this... The same is true of this G minor Fugue... Even those of Bach's biographers and commentators who admire him without reservation blame this Fugue for what they call its rhythmic insistence and stiffness... But we need not make the same mistake if we study and listen to this piece with the reverence it deserves... Obviously a knowledge of counterpoint is indispensable to do justice to this extraordinary work in which Bach amuses himself with multiple combinations of inversions...
Prelude and Fugue XVII in A-Flat Major
This Prelude is written entirely in two voices... Let us not be misled by the chords of the first measure... It is indeed the manner of Bach to impose from the beginning the tonality with full harmonies and then to enjoy the refined elaboration of the parts...
Commentators often mention the modest thematic material of Bach... Is it not rather the richness of Bach's inventive spirit which accomplishes wonders with motives that might appear simple? This Prelude, like the Prelude in F-sharp major of Book II and so many other pieces, proves this eloquently...
Written in the dotted rhythm 'à la francaise', Prelude XVII is of an incomparable richness... Between the phrases where the bass sustained by chords affirms this rhythm, Bach interrupts, modulates, and bestows upon us a phrase, a kind of recitative, whose intense expression moves us (measures 32, 37, 38, 52, 53, 54, 74, etc.) and surprises us in the midst of a piece which advances with a pace quiet and unalterable...
The luminous and gentle character of the subject of the Fugue is scarcely veiled by the chromaticism of the first counter-subject...
Subject, counter-subject, another counter-subject, which, as they unfold, undergo slight variations, intermingle peacefully without any 'tour de force' except that of invertible counterpoint... But is that not enough?
With each appearance of the subject -fifteen times in all- we experience a new happiness... The uninterrupted motion of the sixteenths which forms the background of the subject gives to the whole piece an atmosphere of grandeur and majesty... This Fugue is in four voices... Notice the last three measures, in which the bass branches off on the last beat, with the tenor setting forth the theme as a farewell...
Prelude and Fugue XVIII in G-Sharp Minor
Something unexpected strikes us in the beginning of this Prelude: passages, meticulously uttered, which evoke five-finger exercises in the right hand and, in the left, make us think, remotely, of Alberti basses... But soon the purest counterpoint in two voices appears... The captivating poetry of the key of G-sharp minor, the plaintive accents of the appoggiaturas, to be played as eighth-notes, fill us with delight... The London autograph is marked piano and forte in measures 3 and 5, a notation all the more precious, since Bach rarely indicates dynamics...
The first six notes of the subject of this noble and grave Fugue are identical with the opening phrase of Scarlatti's Sonata Longo No. 413... In spite of its 6/8 time this Fugue is not a gigue, a fact important to notice in order to choose a rather moderate tempo... The chromaticism of the counter-subject prepares us for the second subject, which appears in measure 61 on a half-cadence... Episodes, eleven in all, come successively to enrich the glowing fife of the Fugue... The two subjects meet toward the end on the dominant (measure 135) ... The bass rings as a bell (measure 136) , and the Fugue ends like a moving aria from a cantata, with a tender appoggiatura...
Prelude and Fugue XIX in A Major
Bach was particularly fond of 12/8 time... Think of the last movements of the Brandenburg Concertos No. 2 and No. 6, light or vigorous dances in which the skipping movement plays a vital role... This 12/8 time inspired Bach not only to write dances, but also many pieces in a quiet mood... Prelude XIX, ending on an organ-point, is a pastorale whose bucolic atmosphere continues in the Fugue in 4/4 time... Notice the dotted counter-subject which should be articulated sharply, somewhat in the stile francese...
Prelude and Fugue XX in A Minor
This Prelude, whose chromatic bass supports delicate melismas in the treble, is divided into two sections by a double bar... The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries loved this chromatic bass, which symbolized grief... Inspired by it, Cavalli, Purcell, Couperin, and the German composers, among others, have written marvelous works... Bach often uses it, as in the 'Crucifixus of the B Minor Mass' and the 'adagissimo of the Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suofratello dilettissimo'
The powerful and commanding tone of the subject of the Fugue, swooping down on a diminished seventh, forms with this gentle and affectionate Prelude a most impressive contrast... This diminished seventh does not, however, belong only to Bach... We find it in Handel's 'Messiah', the chorus '...And with His Stripes,' the fugue in Haydn's 'Quartet in F Minor', the 'Kyrie' of the Mozart 'Requiem', etc... The Fugue contains twenty-eight measures... Only Bach could create in such a limited space a piece of such grandeur...
Prelude and Fugue XXI in B-Flat Major
The Prelude is in two parts with a double bar... What fascinates us in this piece, in which commentators see the sonata form presaged, is the adolescent freshness of the 'gallant style'; I would say that Bach even goes beyond a Carl Philipp Emanuel or a Mozart... The dotted eighths in the crossed-hands passages should not be played staccato in the virtuoso manner of Scarlatti, as is usually done... Their purpose is to sustain the harmony...
One would like to linger on the D-flat of the second beat of measure 75 and the C-flat, Neapolitan sixth, in measure 85... Do not glide by; give due regard to the C-flat... It is beautiful; it foretells the end of this delightful piece...
The Fugue is in 3/4 time... The slurs in the third and fourth measures are by Bach... Once having imposed them at the beginning, Bach finds it needless to repeat them... Obviously they must be observed in all similar phrases...
These slurs are significant; they reveal the origin of the ornament, the appoggiatura... It would be advisable for every interpreter to study the way in which the appoggiatura has to be played or sung... It is particular and, among other difficulties, requires emphasizing the first note and giving the second note morendo...
Prelude and Fugue XXII in B-Flat Minor
The Prelude opens with a cantilena, tender and sorrowful... At the third measure appears unexpectedly the familiar theme of the Prelude in the same key of Book I... Is it deliberate or not?
Bach weaves both motives together and creates a work rich in polyphonic possibilities... The Fugue, somber and imperious, needs this preamble in which the human soul sings of its distress, not with cries of desperation, but with restraint...
The subject of the Fugue opens on the tonic, rises on the first two notes of the scale, and before continuing its upward motion, is interrupted by a rest... This rest is of vital importance... It does not stop the ascending motion of the subject, but on the contrary breathes into it an increase of life...
The counter-subject is chromatic... There really is another counter-subject which is not generally mentioned... It appears at the thirteenth measure-detached quarter notes, like heavy drops, which we find throughout the piece and which set forth clearly the design of the eighths of the subject...
The stretti, direct and inverted, are numerous... The twelve episodes bring tenderness into this powerful and somber piece which ends on a Picardy third...