The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I

%26ldquo%3BBach%26rsquo%3Bs+tendency+to+compile+encyclopaedic+demonstrations+of+his+art+is+exemplified+by+his+two+books+of+24+preludes+and+fugues+in+all+the+major+and+minor+keys%2C+known+by+the+title+of+%26ldquo%3BThe+Well-Tempered+Clavier%26rdquo%3B+%28Clavier+or+Klavier+simply+meaning+%26ldquo%3Bkeyboard%26rdquo%3B%29.+The+%26ldquo%3B48%26rdquo%3B%2C+as+the+two+books+together+are+often+called%2C+represents+a+continuation+of+a+strong+German+tradition+of+fugal+writing+for+keyboard%2C+but+also+a+codification+of+the+idea+of+pairing+a+freely+composed+prelude+with+a+self-contained+fugue%2C+and+of+the+principles+of+fugue.+The+essence+of+these+is+a+strictly+contrapuntal+texture+in+a+consistent+number+of+parts+or+%26ldquo%3Bvoices%26rdquo%3B%2C+albeit+freely+distributed+between+the+hands%2C+and+a+concentration+on+a+main+theme+or+%26ldquo%3Bsubject%26rdquo%3B+which+is+introduced+in+a+gradual+build-up+in+all+the+voices+in+turn%2C+usually+in+combination+with+an+almost+equally+important+%26ldquo%3Bcounter-subject%26rdquo%3B.%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3EThe+two+sets+were+intended+primarily+for+use+in+Bach%26rsquo%3Bs+teaching+of+keyboard+playing+and+composition%2C+and+were+not+printed+in+full+until+more+than+half+a+century+after+the+composer%26rsquo%3Bs+death.+But+manuscript+copies+were+widely+circulated%2C+and+were+avidly+studied+by+Mozart+and+the+young+Beethoven.+Later%2C+the+%26ldquo%3B48%26rdquo%3B+was+a+significant+influence+on+many+other+composers%2C+including+Robert+Schumann%2C+who+considered+it+a+musician%26rsquo%3Bs+%26ldquo%3Bdaily+bread%26rdquo%3B%3B+and+in+the+twentieth+century+it+provided+a+model+for+similarly+comprehensive+sets+of+preludes+and+fugues+by+Hindemith+and+Shostakovich.+Meanwhile%2C+although+conceived+for+the+harpsichord+and+possibly+the+clavichord%2C+it+has+become+a+central+part+of+the+repertoire+of+the+ubiquitous+keyboard+instrument+of+the+nineteenth+and+twentieth+centuries%2C+the+piano.%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3EBook+I+of+%26ldquo%3BThe+Well-Tempered+Clavier%26rdquo%3B+took+shape+gradually+during+Bach%26rsquo%3Bs+years+as+Kapellmeister+%28director+of+music%29+at+the+court+of+Coethen.+It+seems+to+have+begun+with+two+series+of+preludes+in+the+Clavierbuechlein%2C+or+%26ldquo%3BLittle+Keyboard+Book%26rdquo%3B%2C+that+Bach+wrote+for+the+education+of+his+nine-year-old+son+Wilhelm+Friedemann+in+1720.+Soon+after+that%2C+he+paired+these+preludes+with+fugues+and+added+further+pieces%2C+the+new+material+being+either+newly+written+or+adapted+%28and+perhaps+transposed%29+from+now+lost+earlier+versions.+He+then+expanded+many+of+the+preludes+as+part+of+a+revision+of+the+whole+set%2C+which+took+place+probably+in+1721+or+%26rsquo%3B22.+He+made+more+revisions+in+the+process+of+producing+a+fair+copy+of+the+whole+work+in+late+1722+or+early+1723%3B+and+after+his+move+to+Leipzig+he+continued+to+adjust+details+right+through+to+the+1740s+%26ndash%3B+by+which+time+he+was+also+working+on+the+companion+Book+II.%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3EOne+model+for+Bach+in+his+assembly+of+Book+I+was+Ariadne+musica+by+Johann+Caspar+Ferdinand+Fischer%2C+a+1702+publication+consisting+of+twenty+short+preludes+and+fugues+for+organ+in+ascending+order+of+key%2C+major+and+minor.+Fischer+left+out+a+few+keys+which+in+the+most+common+tuning+systems+of+the+time+would+have+sounded+impossibly+out+of+tune.+But+Bach+was+able+to+fill+in+the+gaps%2C+counting+on+the+use+of+a+more+up-to-date+system+which+evened+out+the+compromises+inherent+in+the+division+of+the+octave+into+twelve+semitones%3A+perhaps+today%26rsquo%3Bs+equal+temperament%2C+but+perhaps+a+%26ldquo%3Bwell-tempered%26rdquo%3B+tuning+which+retained+some+of+the+individual+colour+of+each+key.+%26ldquo%3B%3Cbr+%2F%3E%28From+the+CD+linernote+by+Anthony+Burton+%26copy%3B+2011%29%3Cbr+%2F%3E