Saint-Saëns was the first major French composer to write a
piano concerto, and he treats orchestra and piano as equals, with brilliance and
originality. He was devoted to forms used in the past, but that did not stop
him from experimenting. He revered the modern composers of his younger years
while he grew more critical of the next generation as he got older. But for his
contemporaries, he was somewhat of an innovator and known for his novelty, all
within the French aesthetic of ‘good taste’.
Of the five piano concertos, No. 2 in G minor is the only
one that is solidly in the repertoire, with No. 4 having an occasional
performance. Both concertos are innovative in form, with No. 4 being similar in
form to Symphony No. 3. Musicologist Daniel M. Fallon has written a paper
that goes in depth concerning the 4th piano concerto and its relation to
early sketches for a symphony that was never written. The paper is free to download at the link and is titled: The Genesis Of Saint-Saëns’ Piano ConcertoNo. 4. The abstract of the paper states:
Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 4 was based on an introduction
to an unfinished symphony, which the 19-year-old composer wrote and then
abandoned. Nearly every bar of the concerto evolves from this draft, providing
a rare opportunity to understand Saint-Saëns' compositional craft.
I. Allegro moderato - Andante - This concerto
consists of two main movements, with two distinct sections within each.The movement begins with a chromatic theme
in the strings that is soon taken up by the piano. This theme is traded off by
piano and orchestra and builds in brilliance in the piano until the full
orchestra repeats the theme forte.The
theme then moves into the woodwinds as the piano and pizzicato strings
accompany.Saint-Saëns shows his
feeling for orchestral and pianistic color as it is essentially the same theme
repeated throughout the first section, but he avoids monotony with his skill of
orchestration. This section comes to a close and a bridge begins that announces
the second section of the movement.
The second section begins in the woodwinds that play a
chorale theme with the piano accompanying with rapid scales. This theme is
varied for the rest of the movement as the piano part becomes more florid until
the music calms and begins a slow transition to the second movement.
II. Allegro vivace -Andante -Allegro - The second movement begins with a return
to the material that was used as a bridge for the first and second sections of
the first movement. The first section of this movement serves as a scherzo. The
first theme of the first movement reappears in the strings as the piano cavorts
in triplets. The theme is varied until a new energetic theme appears and
alternates with the initial theme. The bridge theme reappears, as the other two
themes play off each other. The music flows into the Andante section in a
reminiscence of the chorale theme of the first movement that receives a fugal
treatment. The chorale continues and
slowly builds in volume and intensity, which leads to the final Allegro
section.
This section’s theme is actually the chorale theme played in
C major in ¾ time, and it is initially heard in single notes in the right hand
of the piano with a pizzicato accompaniment. The piano and orchestra alternate playing the theme and
accompaniment as Saint-Saëns continues keeping the ear of the listener
interested in the theme with subtle variations on it.The piano glitters and combines with the orchestra to bring the
concerto to a brilliant close.
Camille Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy composing his first piece when 4 years old. At his first public recital at the age of 10 years old, he played Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15, along with other pieces by Bach, Handel, Hummel and others. For an encore he offered to play any of the 32 Beethoven sonatas from memory. His precociousness did not end with music; for he learned how to read and write by the time he was three. He also studied and wrote about geology, acoustics, archeology, botany and many other scientific subjects as well as history.
He once said of himself, "I produce music the way an apple tree produces apples." He was one of the most naturally gifted musicians that ever lived, and his seemingly easy facility for composing lead some to criticize his lack of feeling in some of his compositions. There is a natural virtuosity to a lot of his music, whether it is as lacking in emotion as some contend is a matter of taste.
He wrote the 5th piano Concerto to commemorate his 50th anniversary of his debut in 1846. Saint-Saëns practiced diligently throughout his life to keep his keyboard technique in excellent condition, and remained a virtuoso on the piano and organ his entire life. He was the soloist in the premiere of the work on May 6, 1896.
Allegro animato - Soft orchestral chords in the woodwinds with pizzicato accompaniment from the strings open the concerto, with the piano entering shortly after with the first theme. The strings take up the theme as the soloist plays a counter melody in the style of the pizzicato accompaniment. There was a 20-year span between the composition of Saint-Saëns’ 4th piano concerto and the 5th, but his elegance of expression and virtuosity remained intact as the piano ripples with scales and arpeggios as the first theme returns and is developed. The music works up to the transition to the second main theme, melancholy music that stands in contrast to the first theme.
These two themes trade off appearances in the development section, with frequent changes of key. The first theme becomes more aggressive as it appears, while the second theme retains much of its melancholy mood. The first theme seems to reappear to begin the recapitulation, as the strings state it and the soloist plays scales and gentle figures. But is it the recapitulation, or is the development section continuing? Saint-Saëns doesn’t allow a formal return to the opening music, but melds the two themes into a continuing development until a coda appears that gives one more transfiguration of the second theme, and the initial theme then leads to a quiet ending of the movement.
Andante - The opening of this movement, traditionally the slow section of a piano concerto, breaks with convention as the movement begins with a loud chord by the orchestra, with ensuing rhythmic motives played by the strings that are underpinned by chords from the brass. The piano plays exotic runs over this accompaniment until the piano joins with the woodwinds to move to a slower section dominated by the piano and strings. The soloist plays a simple melody in the extreme treble range of the keyboard that leads to a section labeled quasi recitativo.
A flute joins in as the piano in gentle runs up and down the keyboard. The 1st violins and cellos gently take up the theme to an accompaniment by the other strings and the piano, with the section played at a whispering pianissimo. A Nubian boat song that the composer heard on his African trips is quoted as the section winds its way through this and other exotic tunes.
The piano and strings combine in imitation of frogs, crickets, and other creatures heard during the hot and humid nights in Egypt, the 2nd violins and violas play sul ponticello very gently while the piano plays repeated notes in each hand that are labeled quasi cadenza.
The piano plays in the extreme treble once again, after which gentle runs up the keyboard bring the movement back to where it started with the rhythmic violins answered by the soloist. The music ends with mysterious tremolos played by the strings as the piano slowly makes its way to the top of the keyboard and quietly brings one of Saint-Saëns most imaginative pieces of music to a close.
Molto allegro - The shortest movement of the concerto begins with the piano rumbling deep in the bass, until the exuberant first theme rushes to the forefront. The piano goes up and down the keyboard while the orchestra supports it in the background. A second mellower theme emerges, and is passed from soloist to orchestra. Saint-Saëns again shows his virtuosity as a soloist in the rapid figures heard in the piano.
The first theme returns (along with the rumbling in the bass) and is dramatically developed. Both themes return after a shortened development section, and the concerto ends with the entire orchestra playing a fortissimo coda.
Such was the impression that
Mozart's 41'st symphony made on 18th century and early 19th century listeners,
that the symphony was given the nickname 'Jupiter'. Jupiter is the largest
planet in our solar system, and is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Zeus,
the god of lightning and storms.
And it is a large work in every
way. It is the longest symphony Mozart wrote, and pushes at the edges of the
Classical era envelope of expression, skirting ever so closely to the
approaching new era of Romanticism. The three final symphonies are a
trilogy, where No. 39 is firmly rooted in the Classical era but shows flashes
of expanding the style of expression, while No. 40 bounces against convention
in its more outward flashes of emotion, content, and key. No. 41 is the
all-around grandest of them all, and continues to attract listeners after over
200 years.
As large and grand as it is, Mozart did not include clarinets, nor
did he write a revision with them included as he did for symphony No. 40.
I. Allegro vivace -Mozart does away with any kind of introduction and jumps right into the
first theme group that begins loudly and with an upward figure drenched in C
major. Two bars of more quiet music immediately answer this, and then the first
two measures are heard again, this time in G major. The music continues in
dotted rhythmic fanfares in the woodwinds and horns, with the 1st violins
sketching out the harmony while the 2nd violins and violas play rapid downward
runs. There is nothing harmonically that is daring in the first few bars.
Rather, it is the tried and true chord progression of tonic, dominant seventh,
subdominant, in this case C major, G dominant 7th, F major. But this beginning
proves that a skilled and gifted composer can make a simple chord progression
sound exciting.
The two motives are developed in
the next section, which leads to the second theme group, which is begun quietly
in the key of G major. There is a section in C minor that is in contrast to
what has proceeded, after which the music flows back into the fanfare dotted
rhythms. There is a third theme to be heard, then the fanfares return and the
exposition is repeated.
The music shifts to E-flat major at the beginning of the
development section, and parts of the third theme are developed until Mozart
pulls a little bit of a trick on the listener. The opening theme is heard
softly, as an anticipation of the recapitulation, but the fanfares come back
and are expanded until the true recapitulation begins with the usual changing
of keys of the second theme group along with some small development. The
movement ends with a final fanfare.
II. Andante cantabile - The strings are muted in this movement, a type
of extended song form.
The music begins in F major. An
episode follows in snatches of F minor and C minor. The first theme returns
with a more decorated accompaniment. This movement is in sonata form, so Mozart
inserts a repeat sign that is not always adhered to in modern performances.
This movement has some of the most beautiful music Mozart ever wrote, along
with some emotionally more acute sections.
III. Menuetto: Allegretto -Another Mozart menuetto that has little
resemblance to the French dance. It resembles a Ländler, and has its chromatic
moments as much of late Mozart does.
It goes stomping on its
merry way until the trio. The first part of the trio is gentle in character,
while the second part is in a minor key and more forceful. In the beginning of
the second part of the trio, the first four notes in the flute, oboe, bassoon,
and violin contain what will become a prominent theme of the upcoming final
movement.
IV. Molto allegro -The finale begins with the
theme that was foreshadowed in the trio of the previous movement.
This theme proceeds until another theme is heard. After that, the first
theme is fugally developed. There are a total of five primary themes in this
movement. They enter alone, sometimes in counterpoint to another; sometimes
each theme is treated fugally by itself. There is ready evidence that
Mozart was flexing his compositional muscle with this movement, but the most
astounding is yet to come. Just before the end of the symphony, there is a coda
that includes all five of the primary themes played together, each one a voice in
a 5-part fugue.
Not all composers keep a record of when a composition was
written, but Mozart kept a catalog of his compositions, so we do know that his final
three symphonies were composed over the summer of 1788. Musicologists
have disagreed whether any of the last three symphonies were performed in
Mozart's time, but in the case of the 40th Symphony, it exists in two versions.
The original with no clarinets, and the revision with clarinets added. It's
improbable that Mozart would have revised the symphony without a performance of
the original version.
Mozart was fond of the clarinet, but at the time it
hadn't become a permanent member of the orchestra. That began to change in the
1780's. Mozart had a great understanding of wind instruments and their
possibilities. With its large range of notes, flexible dynamic range, and
different tone colors, the clarinet became a valuable member of the orchestra
in a short time.
I. Molto allegro -The symphony begins with the disquieting murmur
of the violas playing an accompaniment three quarters of a bar before the theme
itself begins. The theme is a simple one of slurred eighth notes and quarter
notes that sigh out the theme with an occasional louder outburst. The second
theme is chromatic in nature, but is rooted in the key of B-flat major.
The first theme is heard again, and is shortly
developed into the key of B-flat major, and the exposition is repeated.
The development begins strangely in the key of F-sharp, and snippets of the
first theme go through numerous transformations of key and sections of
intensity alternating with sections of quiet tension. The recapitulation has
the return of the first theme in G minor, and a longer section that segues to
the second theme, this time played in the home key of G minor. A coda includes
a rising, syncopated section that leads to the final statement of part of the
first theme, and the closing chord in G minor.
II. Andante - The movement is in E-flat major, and begins with
a lyrical theme that weaves its way contrapuntally through the orchestra. It is
written in sonata form and has a chromatic character to the music similar to the
first movement. There is an increase in volume and tension in the development
section. The recapitulation plays through the music until the music ends
calmly.
III. Menuetto - Allegretto -The key of G minor returns with the next
movement. Although marked a 'menuetto', it bears no resemblance to the
refined dance. It is gruff, off the beat accented music that begins with two
irregular three-bar phrases. This music also has a fair amount of chromaticism
going on, which in this case adds to the terseness.
The trio is in marked contrast, and has a dialogue between strings and winds, in the key of G major.
IV. Finale - Allegro assai-The finale begins with a Mannheim rocket in the
first violins. This quiet snippet is followed by a louder answer in the
orchestra.
The theme
alternates from piano statement to forte answer, until a section of running
eighth notes leads to the second theme in B-flat major which leads to the
exposition being repeated.
The lead-in to the development is an astounding eight bars of music that
begins with the Mannheim rocket in B-flat major that suddenly loses all sense
of key. In 1788, Mozart wrote a section of music that carries on the
chromaticism of the 3 previous movements to the ultimate extreme as all the
notes but one of the chromatic scale are played over 4 octaves in unison by the
full orchestra.
The only note left out of this tonal and rhythmic chaos is G
natural, as if to disorient the listener even more by denying the sounding of
the tonic note. The development continues with chromaticism that must have been
alarming to listeners at the time. The music turns borderline violent as themes
are stated against each other in counterpoint, when suddenly the first
theme returns with the recapitulation. The second theme appears in G minor, and running
eighth notes keep up the severity until the closing G minor chord.
Both books of The Well Tempered Clavier contain 24 preludes and 24 fugues. That's a total of 96 pieces in both books combined. There have been some live performances of the complete Book I or Book II, but none to my knowledge that had them both on the same program. That would be far too much of a good thing for anyone but a musical masochist.
With the music of Bach, the listener is confronted by multi-levels of creativity. There is the visceral pleasure of hearing it, as Bach's counterpoint can be so smooth and flowing that one forgets about it. He is far from being pedantic, and knows how to write a good tune and not just fugue subjects, and he is well aquainted with music in the different styles of his era. And of course he was a master crasftsman of music, with evidence that abounds in the Well Tempered Clavier. The interlacing of voices and textures is fascinating. and there is something about the fugues that make sense, whether the listener knows anything theoretical about harmony or counterpoint.
But this is music of over 250 years ago. For me at least, too big of a chunk at one time makes my ears go a little numb and my brain to get overtaxed. With all that has happened in the art of music since the death of Bach, it's no wonder that many listeners have a limit to what they can absorb at one time. That is why I broke down The Well Tempered Clavier into six preludes and fugues in a post, and sometimes that still pushes the limits of the modern ear.
Prelude and Fugue No. 19 in A Major, BWV 864 -This prelude is essentially in three voices that flow together to form a quite satisfying piece. There are no cadences that stand out to disrupt the calm atmosphere as a constant pulse of eighth notes continues to the end.
The 3-voiced fugue is in contrast to the prelude as there is more agitation, but with no sense of tension within it. Things move at a different pulse than the prelude, but for all the differencesd between the two they complent one another.
Prelude and Fugue No. 20 in A Minor, BWV 865 -The prelude begins with short notes in the right hand played over longer notes in the left, a feature that changes in the hands through the piece.This is a prelude that is in two voices. Sycopated eighth notes are sprinkled throughout the piece. The prelude is in two repeating sections, of similar length.
The abrupt two-measure subject consists of but 7 notes. But the accompanying material is not as much. as small note values make their way through the piece. Of interest is the final cadence which is in A minor, unlike the fugues in Book One (and some in Book II) that end with a Picardy third, that is a chord in the parallel major of the minor key.
Prelude and Fugue No. 21 in B-flat Major, BWV 866 -Another prelude in two sections with the second section longer than the first. The time signature of 12/16 hints at it being a gigue, a dance that is found at the end of a Baroque dance suite. The stylized dance forms were just that; many of them written by baroque composers were not meant to be danced to, any more than some of the stylized minuets of Haydn and Mozart. The obligatory repeats of this prelude make it one of the longer ones, and the mood is lively, if not in actual tempo then in feeling. There is a grand pause three lines from the end of the second section, after which each hand plays a 5-measure run of sixteenth notes with the final six bars summing up the section before the simple ending a B-flat an octave apart in eachhand.
The subject of the fugue is four bars long with the distinction of eigth notes being slurred in pairs in the 2nd and 3rd beat of the 3rd and 4th measure. A good performance of this fuge has these slurs repeated with every appearance of the subject.
Prelude and Fugue No. 22 in B-flat Minor, BWV 867 -The texture of this prelude is polyphonic, in three voices. It isn't obsessively slow in tempo as the movement of the voices need a certain amount of reined-in velocity. There are moments of major key sounds, and it ends in B-flat major.
With a subject more than 4 bars long and with two rests in its first two measures, this fugue takes some time to release the 4 voices. It winds its way with voices entering with repeats of the subject as well as other material, and the 4th bar from the end has all 4 voices speaking at once in eighth notes. The fugue ends in B-flat major.
Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B Major, BWV 868 -A quite lively prelude that bristles with virtuoso toccata passages. It moves at a brisk pace with a steady rush of sixteenth notes, and ends before you know it.
A fugue with a four bar subject that is in marked contrast to the prelude. The tempo is more andante. Any slower and the fugue doesn't hold together very well. Bach's lack of tempo indications have given rise to all manner of interpretive suggestions by editors, some good and some not so much. The right tempo for a prelude and fugue has to be discoverred by the performer. A tempo that allows the accentuation of voices and textures first and foremost.
Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in B Minor, BWV 869 -A rarity with this prelude is a tempo designation given by Bach himself. The short notes within the prelude are written out ornaments, so Bach must have had certain definite ideas about this prelude. The prelude has the pieces of a sonata in form, and it ends in the minor.
This 3-voiced fugue has a subject 5 and a half measures long. There are many appearances of the subject as well as other non-subject material. The tempo can be fairly moderate, but the workings of the voice makes it seem like it goes faster. To round out the final fugue of the '48', Bach ends it with a Picardy third in B major.
The average grand piano has 230 strings for the 88 keys of the keyboard. They range from 3 strings per note in the treble, to 2 strings further down the bass, until the lowest bass notes have but one string per note. The modern piano has seen an increase of the tension on the strings to improve the tone and volume of the instrument, and the tension on each string ranges from 160 to 200 pounds. That gives a total inner tension exerted on the frame of over 18 tons. That's the reason why pianos are so heavy. There is an inner cast iron frame to deal with such tremendous forces, otherwise the instrument would collapse under the tension.
The preceding information is by way of introducing unconventional music for the piano. Imagine using fists or forearms to play clusters of keys, or playing directly on the strings by plucking, rubbing, or scraping with a finger nail. Or maybe inserting various things between the strings such as screws, bolts, washers, etc. Maybe tapping the strings with a finger, or bowing the strings.
All of this has been done. Some of it quite a while ago. And I can't help but think some of these techniques may not be all that good for piano actions or strings. With the cost of a modern 9 foot Steinway Model D being around $171,000, I would think that sticking nuts and bolts and fingers inside and using the piano in ways it was not designed for may not be too wise, despite the interesting sounds achieved.
Henry Cowell composed pieces that consisted of tone clusters, groups of notes played by the fist or forearm, such as his piece The Tiger of 1928. And pieces to be played on the strings directly, such as the Aeolian Harp of 1923 where the piano keys are silently depressed and the opens strings are played by a finger gliding over them, and The Banshee of 1925, where the damper pedal of the piano is kept down while fingers pluck, glide and scratch over the strings.
The notorious bad-boy of music John Cage developed the Prepared Piano where he put all manner and sizes of nails, screws, nut, bolts, and other paraphernalia between the strings. The result was sounds that were completely different than a piano, such as the Sonata V For Prepared Piano of 1946.
Add to all that the idea of the bowed piano, first suggested by composer Curtis Curtis-Smith in 1972, where pieces of mono-filament fishing line and other items that are rosined and positioned under the strings so that when the performer pulls back and forth on the fishing line a tone is produced. Enter Stephen Scott, a composer who took the idea and created a group of players known as The Bowed Piano Ensemble. Scott composes for this group, and there are many techniques besides bowed piano that he uses to create an interesting sound palette. One of the pieces he has composed for the instrument is titled Entrada. The various techniques can be seen in the video below of The Bowed Piano Ensemble playing the piece.
By my reckoning, there are 10 performers crowded in and around the piano, so this piece takes much coordination and choreography to play successfully.
Johann Sebastian Bach was an artist that was in many ways self-taught. He did have instruction from his family in clavier, violin, and organ, but he wasn't satisfied with just that. He wanted to know as much as he could about his art and craft, so he copied out music of other composers as well as traveled to hear masters play so he could learn from them. A case in point is the 250 mile journey he took on foot when he was 20 years old from Arnstadt to Lübeck to hear and learn from the famous (at the time) organist Dietrich Buxtehude. This wasn't the first time Bach had traveled a long distance. At the age of 15 he traveled from Ohrdruf to Lüneburg, a distance of 200 miles, to study at St. Michael’s School where he sang in the choir.
All of the travel, study and exposure to other musicians and music gave him an insight into the craft that made him a great performer, composer and teacher. Indeed, his duties at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, a position that he held from 1723 until his death, required that he supervise and provide the music for 4 churches in the community, play the organ as well as teach the choir and instrumentalists. Bach must have had a robust constitution most of his life, for he was a very busy man.
He taught his herd of children as well. some of them went on to make music their life and were very influential in their time. Johann Nikolaus Forkel wrote the first biography of Bach in 1802. Forkel knew some of his children, and C.P.E. Bach especially gave Forkel insight into the elder Bach's teaching methods. Forkel wrote:
To teach well a man needs to have a full mind. He must have discovered how to meet and have overcome the obstacles in his own path before he can be successful in teaching others how to avoid them. Bach united both qualities. Hence, as a teacher he was the most instructive, clear, and definite that has ever been. In every branch of his art he produced a band of pupils who followed in his footsteps, without, however, equaling his achievement.
For months together he made them practice nothing but simple exercises for the fingers of both hands, at the same time emphasizing the need for clearness and distinctness. He kept them at these exercises for from six to twelve months, unless he found his pupils losing heart, in which case he so far met them as to write short studies which incorporated a particular exercise.
The Well-Tempered Clavier was written with this in mind, as well as being an example of how a well-tempered tuning of keyboard instruments opened up the possibility of playing in all 24 major and minor keys. As Bach wrote in the preface to the work:
...for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.
Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F-sharp Major, BWV 882 - A prelude of persistent dotted eighth note patterns. It is in 2 voices with the dotted note patterns appearing in almost every bar, usually in one voice or the other, seldom at the same time. The mood is maintained throughout until a few bars before the end when the music drifts into F-sharp minor. But this is momentary, and the prelude ends with a cadence to F-sharp major.
The subjects of Bach's fugues are like the seeds of plants. Some are simple, some are not, most of the subjects of his keyboard fugues are short, mainly because they were meant to be played on the non-sustaining keyboards of the harpsichord and clavichord. The fugues written for organ for the most part have longer subjects. The subject of this fugue is unusual in that it begins on the leading tone, that is the seventh note of the F-sharp major scale, instead of a note within the F-sharp major triad. This doesn't guide the ear to the key of the piece, but rather away from it. The music winds its way, but Bach brings it all to a satisfying conclusion.
Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F-sharp Minor, BWV 883 -This prelude is in 3 voices, but they are not equal in importance. The upper voice is dominant, and the music floats at an easy pace, with tinges of melancholy here and there. A little over halfway through, Bach stops the music altogether for a pause that leaves the music hang in midair. The music returns and makes its way to the final cadence in F-sharp major.
Bach's fugues are challenging not only for the technical aspects of playing the notes. There is also the questions the performer has to make on which is more important in each fugue; the harmonic structure, melodic structure, phrasing and so on. For a performance to be all it can be of any of these works, a performer needs to make decisions. That is why there are so many books written about the WTC, there is a wealth of ideas contained in each pairing of prelude and fugue, and a tremendous amount in the entire two book set. The subject of this fugue is a little longer than three bars, and it is is in 3 voices. There is much melodic content in the fugue besides the subject itself, and Bach uses the subject as the thread to tie it all together.
Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G Major, BWV 884 -as evidenced by this prelude and the G major prelude in the first book, the key of G major was a playful one for Bach. It is in 2 voices (for the most part). It is one of the few preludes to be in 2 repeated parts, with the second part twice as long as the first. The prelude has a resemblance to some of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Whether Bach actually knew of Scarlatti or his music isn't definite, but at this time in his life Bach would sometimes write in the more contemporary galant style. With characteristic running sixteenth notes, the prelude is lively and vivacious.
The running sixteenth notes continue in this novel subject of 5 measures. This subject statement is heard only 6 times throughout, with the balance of the music taken up with counter subjects and episodes. In its liveliness, it is a perfect accompaniment to the prelude heard before it.
Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G Minor, BWV 885 -This prelude is one of three in the entire set of 48 to have a tempo designation, Largo. Bach was adamant that this was not to be taken fast, but slow and stately.
Beginning on the second beat, the subject of this 4-voiced fugue has the 4th degree of the G minor scale (C) played out seven times at the end of it. As soon as the seventh C is sounded, the counter subject begins before the subject makes its second entry. The entry of the other two voices follows this pattern. The subject matter returns many times with changes in key, sometimes it plays against another version of the subject heard in a different voice. The music does end with a Picardy third (that is, with a major chord) but just barely. The final note of the fugue is a major third, B natural.
Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in A-flat Major, BWV 886 -A prelude of calm and sweetness of harmony. Although it is for the most part in two parts,s there are instances of chordal structures within it.
The subject of this 4-voiced fugue begins after an eighth rest and lasts for two measures. The seeming rhythmic simplicity hides the subtle syncopations within the piece.
Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in G-sharp Minor, BWV 887 -This prelude has unusual dynamic designations in it not normally found in the The Well-Tempered Clavier. In the third bar there is the term piano, while in the 5th measure there is marked forte. Perhaps this was meant for a harpsichord that could allow for different dynamics, or on the clavichord which was capable of slight variations in dynamics. The rest of the prelude is not so marked, but perhaps Bach did it to make the point that there were to be echo effects to be played in this prelude whenever the music demanded it and the instrument allowed it. There are two sections, almost of equal length; the second section has two more bars than the first. The prelude is mostly melody and accompaniment with little counterpoint involved.
The subject is 4 measures long, entirely in 8th notes, and the fugue looks remarkably plain on the printed page, but roughly half way through the fugue, Bach introduces a second subject that is more chromatic and of a different rhythm than the first. This helps the listener detect changes between the first half and the second half of the fugue, and helps avoid monotony. Each subject enters and leaves with differing voices, and aided by syncopation, they add variety. There are no increases of tension, no contrasts of major and minor. By the use of chromaticism and different motifs for each subject, as the subjects themselves, to create a mood of subtle color shifts.
