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The Well-Tempered Clavier | HearLore
The Well-Tempered Clavier
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier in 1722 while serving as Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. The autograph manuscript dates to that specific year and bears a title page stating it was composed for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning. Bach recycled earlier compositions from his Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, which he had compiled in 1720 for his eldest son. This notebook contained versions of eleven preludes that later appeared in the 1722 collection. The C major prelude originally existed in C major before Bach added a key signature of seven sharps to convert it to the required key. Bach's appointment in Köthen provided him with the time and resources to compile this systematic set of twenty-four pairs.
Tuning System Debates
Scholars have long debated whether Bach intended equal temperament or some form of unequal well temperament for his keyboard works. During much of the twentieth century, researchers presumed Bach aimed for equal temperament, yet modern analysis suggests otherwise. Forkel reported that Bach tuned his own harpsichords and clavichords because he found other people's tunings unsatisfactory. Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg received information from Bach's sons and pupils regarding tuning practices. Johann Kirnberger, one of those pupils, described a method where all major thirds were sharper than pure. Herbert Anton Kellner argued from the mid-1970s until his death that esoteric considerations like numerology could determine the correct temperament. Andreas Sparschuh assigned mathematical meaning to loops on the title page in 1999, proposing a recursive tuning algorithm based on A equals 420 Hz. Michael Zapf reinterpreted these loops as indicating the rate of beating of different fifths in seconds per beat starting on C.
When did Johann Sebastian Bach write the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier?
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier in 1722 while serving as Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. The autograph manuscript dates to that specific year and bears a title page stating it was composed for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning.
What tuning method did Johann Sebastian Bach use for his keyboard works in The Well-Tempered Clavier?
Scholars have long debated whether Bach intended equal temperament or some form of unequal well temperament for his keyboard works. Modern analysis suggests otherwise than the presumed equal temperament, with Johann Kirnberger describing a method where all major thirds were sharper than pure.
How many pairs of preludes and fugues are included in each book of The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach?
Each book contains twenty-four pairs of prelude and fugue arranged across all major and minor keys. The first pair is in C major followed by C minor then D major and so on up to B minor ensuring every key has been represented exactly once.
When were printed copies of both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier published after Johann Sebastian Bach's death?
Printed copies of both books did not appear until 1801 fifty-one years after Bach's death. Three publishers released them almost simultaneously in Bonn Leipzig and Zurich while Haydn and Mozart studied the work closely during the maturing of the Classical style in the 1770s.
Who made the first complete recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier on piano and when was it recorded?
The first complete recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier was made on piano by Edwin Fischer between 1933 and 1936 for EMI. As of 2013 over one hundred fifty recordings had been documented with pianist Natalya Pasichnyk releasing Rethinking the Well-Tempered Clavier in 2024 which won the Golden Medal at the Global Music Awards.
Each book contains twenty-four pairs of prelude and fugue arranged across all major and minor keys. The first pair is in C major, followed by C minor, then D major, D minor, and so on up to B minor. This rising chromatic pattern ensures every key has been represented exactly once. Book One concludes with a B minor fugue after traversing the entire spectrum of tonalities. Book Two follows the same structural logic, beginning in C major and ending in B minor. The manuscript known as BWV 846 through 893 represents this complete cycle. Bach's autograph for the second book dates between 1739 and 1742 while he was employed in Leipzig. The London Original manuscript serves as one primary source for this collection, dated between 1739 and 1742.
Contrapuntal Devices
Musically, the preludes exhibit formally free structures coupled to extended free codas. Many preludes display odd or irregular numbers of measures in both phrases and total count. Each fugue carries a voice count ranging from two to five voices. Most pieces utilize three- or four-voiced textures, though two fugues employ five voices. The fugue in E minor from Book One stands alone as a two-voiced work. Contrapuntal devices include fugal exposition, thematic inversion, and stretto. The most direct motivic reference appears in the B major set from Book One where the fugue subject uses the first four notes of the prelude at half speed. Wilhelm Werker and Johann Nepomuk David attempted to analyze these motivic connections extensively.
Classical Reception History
Printed copies of both books did not appear until 1801, fifty-one years after Bach's death. Three publishers released them almost simultaneously in Bonn, Leipzig, and Zurich. Haydn and Mozart studied the work closely during the maturing of the Classical style in the 1770s. Mozart transcribed several fugues for string ensemble between 1782 and 1783. Beethoven played the entire Well-Tempered Clavier by age eleven and produced an arrangement of BWV 867 for string quintet. Hans von Bülow later called The Well-Tempered Clavier the Old Testament of music while designating the Beethoven Sonatas as the New Testament. This reception history transformed the work from a teaching tool into a cornerstone of Western classical repertoire.
Derivative Cycles
Bach's example inspired numerous composers across centuries to create their own cycles of preludes and fugues. In 1835 Chopin started composing his twenty-four Preludes Opus 28 directly inspired by the model. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his own twenty-four Preludes and Fugues in the twentieth century as an even closer reference. Vsevolod Zaderatsky created a full cycle of twenty-four preludes and fugues in 1940 under Gulag camp conditions. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed Les Guitares bien tempérées, a set of twenty-four preludes and fugues for two guitars. These derivative works demonstrate how Bach's structural framework influenced generations of composers beyond his lifetime.
Recording Evolution
The first complete recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier was made on piano by Edwin Fischer between 1933 and 1936 for EMI. Wanda Landowska recorded Book One on harpsichord for RCA Victor in 1949 and Book Two in 1952. Helmut Walcha recorded both books between 1959 and 1961 using a harpsichord. Daniel Chorzempa produced the first recording using multiple instruments including harpsichord, clavichord, organ, and fortepiano for Philips in 1982. As of 2013, over one hundred fifty recordings had been documented. In 2024 pianist Natalya Pasichnyk released Rethinking the Well-Tempered Clavier which won the Golden Medal at the Global Music Awards. Martha Goldstein provided freely licensed harpsichord performances while Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka released a new complete recording under free license in March 2015.