Perfect timing Wim! I was just about to analyse my well-tempered clavier book, because I thought "Why don't I analyse Bach, I might learn something?". Lo and behold, you mention that you can hear the subject 24 times!? I would actually find it quite charming, if you can (I am not you will) analyse the other 23 preludes and fugues, maybe you could call it "Analysis of the well-tempered clavier". Anyway, great video on the old testament of piano literature, Wim.
I am only very humble and self taught , but am glad to hear him explaining the Prelude in C major in a very similar way to how I think of it.☺️. I love the progression of the chords Bach uses , as it leads us along to the conclusion. Many Thanks. 🇬🇧☺️💕🎼🎶🎼💕🇬🇧
Another thing to note about this prelude, if you take the highest notes from measures 4-7, they form an outline of the upcoming fugue subject (E-A-D-G melodic line).
Indeed my Friend! Good remark! I think of this prelude not just as harmony, played as a chorale there is an insane ammount of nice voice leading as that outline you mentioned. It is a therapy on harmony and counterpoint! Sadly in the third world people tend to think of Harmony and Counterpoint as two separate subjects, while in real life both work together :) I always use this prelude on the consrvatory where I teach to help young students know how what they are learning in abstract excercises come to life in a real piece of music. Sorry for my long comment, just wanted to share my experience. Good day, or night!
There’s the earlier version in the Notebook for WF Bach that differs from the better known version in the WTC Pt 1 that towards the end is abbreviated to chords. As to the Fugue subject the earlier version in his distant cousin’s copy and the earlier copies (some later altered to the version ubiquitously printed) has instead of the dotted 1/8 and two 1/32 notes an 1/8 note and two 1/16th notes. I read that Wanda Landowska played the earlier version. J S Bach’s future son in law Altnickol copied the WTC pt 1 in the 1740’s once in the earlier part of the decade and again with corrections in JSB’s hand late in the decade. This is significant as it demonstrates that the work was still considered an essential part of Bach’s education. Altnickol also copied WTC Pt 2, and his copy I copies the format of the original title page of the Part one verbiage, the only PT 2 manuscript to do so to my knowledge.
That was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed your commentary. I'm learning this (I'm teaching myself piano). I love that first change to Amin too. It's so unexpected. I also love when he goes back to C, but it's Cmaj7. ... "The one who's able to answer, we forget about him."
What I loved about learning this piece was that it follows it's own innate musical rules. Even if you are not that familiar with it, when you are learning it you immediately know if you played the wrong note. I just bought a good but inexpensive 2nd hand Yamaha electric piano and started playing again - 30 years after I stopped organ lessons. This brings me so much joy. I finally learned to play all the chords in order instead of arpeggio as my music teacher said I should back them. Stunning on the Church organ and Choir presets! Go and watch Anna Lapwood play the Royal Albert Hall organ with Bonobo - Inspirational! Awesome to see people who love it the same way. Cheers!
Very interesting analysis. Thanks for sharing! I am pretty sure that when writing this piece down Bach didn't think of all that theory, but just put on paper what "felt" right to him. Am I wrong?
I love this video so much and am so happy RU-vid recommended it. You eat up Bach's music just the same as I do. I've done the same thing with his numbers from the keyboard partitas and French and English Suites, marveling at the depth of music, and the emotional journey, accomplished with so few notes.
"If Bach found a work interesting, he cast and recast it throughout his career, sometimes elaborately, and sometimes rather shockingly. Bach’s first biographer Forkel tells us that later in his life he found the beautiful repeated phrases of the C major Prelude from Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier redundant, so he removed them, ‘thereby rendering it shorter by one half'." (excerpt from the liner notes of William Carter - BACH Reimagines BACH)
Fascinating! All these things I take for granted about this "simple" piece! I'm always astounded when I hear score analysis like this. Thank you as always! Love your channel so much! 😊
Going with you through Bach's 'simple' 1st Prelude together with your almost poetic explanation is very interesting and inspiring. Thanks for uploading.
This was incredible! When i play this piece, sometimes i totally dosregard the tempo and i just FEEL those chord progressioms changing ands just an absolutely moving piece of music. Excellent video amd i look forward to similar "why is this music great" videos in the future!
JS Bach is all about KISS. The first prelude from WTC Bk 1 demonstrates that, but this is true throughout the rest of the two volumes and is apparent in his French Suites and many other pieces as well. It's this simple form that makes his music so beautiful because so much can be said with so little at the same time.
imho a very onesighted explanation of this great piece, which is NOT simple. I m missing terms like counterpoint, suspension/resolution, 5-part-structure, cadenza, modulation etc.
Excellent. I've come across good harmonic analyses of the piece, but this addresses some of the great voice leading and voice leading patterns in the piece.
I am already familiar with this bassline/chord sequence that so often opens baroque pieces (Bach himself used it frequently), but it is nice to pause and take a closer look at the exact execution of it and look at the story being told. I am so used to seeing it as "just another way to open a baroque prelude" that I forget to look at what makes it special in any given piece.
I love those videos, always sending them to my friends that are not as much into classical music like me, bringing them a little closer to this awesome stuff. Very much appreciated service to musical understanding.
If you examine the piece in detail you also find that Bach used all 12 notes in the scale for this piece. I have read that it is speculated that Bach used this piece to check the tuning of the instrument. What an elegant piece. Coupled with the 4 voice fudge is just a masterpiece.
Love the Work you do and your passionate excitement for Music in general, ...however, I had "my fanatic love journey" with the clavichord and harpsichord [even learned how to build a harpsichord; Edinburgh], however I have {for some unknown reason}, totally fallen out of love for them. * => That is why I really wish you would re-do all of {at least} your JS Bach videos with 'piano', only; 🥰
Some time ago, I went to a church nearby, where there is a piano open for everybody's use, and I played Bach's famous Prelude in C Major. As soon as I finished, a mother and her little daughter slipped into the church - they must have been listening from the entrance hall. The mother asked if I wanted to play some more. When I asked her daughter if she wanted a song, she just gave me an embarrassed grin. So I repeated the prelude in C major. Finally, the mother said: - Beautiful... was that the Moonlight Sonata? - No, it was Bach's First Prelude (I was almost crying). - Really beautiful. I was almost crying. - Yes... Many people, when they hear "Bach", they think that his music is incredibly difficult. But this piece is not difficult at all. Somehow I had the feeling that old Bach was winking at me from somewhere at that moment...
Yeah it's essentially a bunch of chords! Even though the arpeggio patterns have basically the same contour, the inner voices create little secret melodies that drive the tension.
We are about to finish the first draft - fully translated - manuscript by the end of October. Full revision of it by the team end of this year, early 2023 - in the current format it would be a 750 pages book...
This is a very interesting insight into the C major prelude, and I agree with your analysis on how JS Bach uses the power of harmonic progression, building loads of tension (with quite a few Devil's Intervals no less... how he got away with that is beyond me) while delaying the proper resolution of that tension. No wonder Gounod chose this piece as accompaniment for his Ave Maria even though he needed the Schwencke measure to make it work. The piece also puts me in mind of another Bach prelude, the c minor prelude for lute (BWV 999). Coincidence? I doubt it.
I think this C minor prelude and the WTC 1 c minor prelude all use the same harmony esqueleton, so to speak. I also looked at those preludes and always been puzzled by the paths he choose to take. I think he must have in his mind some rules that followed strictly, I just have never been able to find them out.
As soon as I see these antiquated keyboard instruments, I want to tear my hair out. As a huge Bach fan, I believe that, had the piano-forte been available to him, he would not insult his music by encouraging it to be played on these instruments. Bach sounds so much better when being played on a modern piano - so why play it on anything less? I have a beautiful version of this piece played by Glen Gould on a piano and it takes it into another dimension, which is so unbelievable beautiful. Having sad all that, I thoroughly enjoyed you interesting analysis, for which i thank you Sir.
Am liebsten spiellte er auf Clavichord, direct quote through CPEBach- Forkel. Be carefull pulling your hair out. You might wonder instead what was and is so attractive in this instrument, so much even some people dedicate large parts of their lives to it. Your life will instantly gain quality when you stop judging things that you actually don't know. i'm a huge Glenn Gould fan btw
If you were to try playing a clavichord for yourself you would quickly discover that it is actually the most expressive stringed keyboard instrument ever made. If you can master the clavichord well, and it is the hardest keyboard instrument to play well, you would easily be enchanted by the amazing sound it makes and the subtle effects that can be achieved. By comparison a modern piano is positively loud and vulgar!
Thank you for these videos Mr. Winters, there are few alive with such a complete understanding of Bach as you and it is a pleasure to share in your analysis.
Very fine video Wim! And if we get deeper on the analysis it simply blows your mind out. I´ve always tought of the ending bars as a big COITUS INTERRUPTUS hehe hope it is no offensive to anyone here :) Keep on the good videos and recordings!
OK but what is the logic of sharing fine insights into the most profound music ever written and using such a low-grade mic? It sounds like you are using a phone.
