Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (BWV 555)

attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach

Background

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Registration and Organs

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See the footnote in the "Notes" section at the bottom of the page.

Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

One of the highlights of this prelude and fugue are the syncopated figures. See fore example, in the prelude, mm. 12-17. Here the left hand and pedal voices have strong beats on beats two and four, while the upper two voices have strong beats on beats one and three. This syncopation figure is repeated in the right hand, mm. 18-21. Emphasize the tension between the syncopated figures and the straigh-rhythm figures by articulating the strong beats of each voice separatel. For example, in m. 18, accentuate the down beat (beat 1) in the tenor voice, but beat two in the upper voices.

Fugue: The countersubject of the fugue also uses syncopation: see, for example, the upper voice in mm. 8-11. Here the third beats are tied to the first beats of the next bar, which makes the first beats lose their accents.

The fugue subject begins in dotted half notes, then gradually moves to quarter and eighth notes. Plan your starting tempo based on the speed of the eighth notes that will come later on, not on the dotted half notes at the beginning of the piece.

Scores and Editions

http://imslp.org/wiki/8_Kleine_Pr%C3%A4ludien_und_Fugen,_BWV_553-560_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian)

Recordings

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Free Online

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Pay to Listen

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Other Resources

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Notes

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