The Well-Tempered Clavier

A two-part collection by Johann Sebastian Bach, each part containing a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key. Its keyboard pieces explore contrapuntal writing and tuning across all 24 keys.

Prelude: A musical piece that often introduces another work or establishes a mood without a fixed formal design. Each key begins with a prelude before its companion fugue.
Johann Sebastian Bach: A German composer and organist of the Baroque era, born in 1685 and deceased in 1750. He composed both parts and shaped their contrapuntal designs.
The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I: The 1722 collection of 24 preludes and fugues by Bach, arranged through all major and minor keys. Its 24 pairs establish the collection’s original all-key design.
Keyboard instrument: A musical instrument played by pressing keys that activate sound-producing mechanisms or electronic controls. The pieces became central repertoire across harpsichord, clavichord, and piano traditions.
Fugue: A contrapuntal composition in which a principal theme enters successively in different voices and is developed through imitation. The second piece in each pair develops a subject through interweaving voices.
Köthen: A German town where Bach served as court music director from 1717 to 1723. Bach composed Book I largely during his years in Köthen.
Fugue subject: The principal melodic idea on which a fugue’s imitative counterpoint is built. Each fugue transforms a distinct subject through entries, episodes, and combinations.
Piano: A keyboard instrument that produces sound when hammers strike strings, with volume controlled by touch. Pianists have made the collection a core part of performance and study.
Counterpoint: The art of combining independent melodic lines into a coherent musical texture. The fugues make the collection a sustained demonstration of independent lines working together.
Leipzig: A German city where Bach worked as Thomaskantor from 1723 until his death. Book II took shape during Bach’s later Leipzig period.

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