Bach's Well Tempered Clavier

M

22 .Bll W644 1893 vol.

1

lU^liiilliill£il^tiZiiilUiltii^^

SCHIKIAEFJS LIB FLA FLY

i

Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics •

•

Vols. 13-14

J OH ANN Sebastian

Bach

THE WELL-TEMPERED

CLAVICHORD FORTY-EIGHT PRELUDES AND FUGUES IN

TWO VOLUMES

f EDITED BY

CARL CZERNY WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR BY

PHILIP

G.

SCHIRMER

HALE

(INC.),

NEW YORK

Copyright, 1893, by G. Schirmer (Inc.)

Printed in the U. S. A.

fXOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, %J

member

the greatest

temper was stormy. He was aware of his own worth yet he was free from the common jealousy and vanity Of musicians. A severe teacher, he was beloved by

sanguine

of a large

;

family of distinguished musicians,

March 21, Hisfather, Johann Ambrosius 1685. Bach(i645-i695) was a violinist and an organist, and he married for his first wife, Elizabeth Lammerhirt of

was born

Erfurt,

Eisenach,

at

who

her eighth and

last child,

up and taught by

forehead, deep eyes,

Sebastian,

mouth

was about

ness,

his father,

and, in

from

do with the Maker of the Matthew Passion, the Mass and the church

clavichord lessons from his uncle,

Johann Christoph.

Stories are

cantatas

still

and and in 1700 Liineburg, from which place he

told of the jealousy of Sebastian's brother

studies of the boy,

who

sang

received free education in

made excursions on

the secret

the choir,

in

Hamburg, to hear the organists Reinken and Liibeck. About this time Bach became acand quainted with the works of the French clavecinists foot to

;

the influence of Couperin, the Great, his

paratively of the education of Bach

probable that he Bach's

first

was

is

We

compositions for clavichord.

;

seen in

know but

many

com-

little

it is

of

more than

essentially an autodidact.

position

was

1703 as violinist in the

in

A few

Ernst at Weimar.

orchestra of Prince Johann

months afterward he was appointed organist of the New church at Arnstadt, in which town he staid four years.

He

visited Lubeck,

and associated with Buxtehude,

influenced mightily his compositions for organ.

who

In 1707

the

had neither an organ to play nor a chorus to lead he His devoted himself to orchestral and chamber music.

strange, at times inexplicable.

;

the next year he married

Anna Mag-

she dalena Wiilken, the daughter of a court trumpeter sang, copied music, and bore her husband thirteen ;

children, six of

whom grew

up

;

she died in 1760, after

Bach went to Cantor at the positions of fill the Leipzig in 1723 to Thomas School and musical director of the city. Here His eyes troubled he labored for twenty-seven years. him seriously during the latter years of his life, and at the living for eight years

on public

charity.

by enormous

labor.

We

flat

new

in-

counterpoint and household joy and care.

His nature

was

Copyright,

1893,

the others

J.

A. Hiller

tells

us in his

life of Bach (1784) that Bach employed all the fingers equally he had invented his own system of fingering for conquering difficulties, and it rested chiefly on the use of the thumb. ;

From

the purely musical standpoint, these preludes

and fugues are a

monument

Cart well says, this chaste

As William "screaming"

for all time.

Muse shuns

the

nor will she speak to the jaded ears of a crowd indifferent, or greedy for startling effects. " Each of these pieces has its own cachet and you relight of the concert hall,

;

have no time to look

struments, the parochial quarrels with petty officials, the The man's life was one of intercourse with rulers.

regard

concerned

Bach here showed the possibilities of the new system. A new system of fingering was introduced inevitably by this work. Before Bach, the little finger and the thumb were almost never used, for although Couperin gave in 17 17 directions for using them, his manner is

Others are full pours out his soul

at the

;

we are

of the tone that follows are regarded as identical"

member

contests with foreign virtuosos, the interest in

tiois

fairly accurate,

He

died July 28, 1750. end he was totally blind. These are the baldest outlines of a life distinguished

may we now

were ignored. Our present system is a compromise, and the only interval tuned with accuracy is the octave. "The sharp of a tone and

grew up. 1708 saw the couple in Weimar, where Bach was court organist and chamber-musician to the reigning duke, William Ernst, who was fond of churchNine years were spent busily and agreeably in music. Weimar. In 1717 Bach entered the service of Leopold, prince of Anhalt-Kothen, and lived at Kothen where he ;

nor

with the composer of "The Well-tempered Clavichord," sometimes called "the 48 preludes and fugues." This work is in two parts, and each part contains 24 preludes and 24 fugues. The first part was finished in 1722 at Kothen, and to this part alone he gave the name " The Well-tempered Clavichord." The second part was finished in Leipzig, probably in 1744. It is believed that early compositions, were used in the compilation of the first part, and it is certain that many preludes had already appeared as independent compositions. Bach is said to be the introducer of our present system, the "equal temperament," but it was known probably before, as Mersenne gave the correct number of the ratios in 1636. In the first system of temperament, the "unequal" or "mean-tone," the more common scales

were

four

;

the master of organ prelude and fugue

Bach moved to Miillhausen, where he played the organ and taught for a year. Here he was married to his cousin, Maria Barbara, by whom he had seven children, of whom

wife died in 1720

summed up his own age,

a musician he

exhausted and looked beyond even the end of But we have not to this century.

probability,

all

The man was

the past,

;

violin lessons

large

a face of keenness, frank-

:

and strength.

As

Christoph, organist at Ohrdruff the

boy had received

good and

economical, honorable, yes, noble.

Johann

his brother,

robust, broad-

shouldered, with highly developed

was brought

Sebastian

He was

his pupils.

After the death of

nine years old. his father,

when

died

his

;

it,

Are some severe ? of modern romanticism. If Bach now

as the face of a loved one."

in prayer,

or gives

way

to

gloomy

thought, at other times he laughs with peasant gayety and

dances and sings with the people.

And

often the

most

surprising contrapuntal feat escapes notice by the apparent simplicity of the performance. by G. Schirmbr.

Philip Halb.

;

:

;

:

:

Vorwort.

Preface. The

new

principal object in issuing this

edi-

tion of J. S. Bach's "

"

Well-tempered Clavichord has been to make it as correct and complete as possible, both by means of comparison with all preceding editions, and by collating with some In marking the fingering, earlier manuscripts. which renders this issue far more generally useful, two points have been steadily kept in view First, to keep the hands as quiet as may be, even in extremely complicated passages;

Bei dieser neuen Ausgabe von J. S. Bach's wohltemperirtem Clavier hat man vor Allem gestrebt, durch Vergleichung aller frtthern Ausgaben so wie einiger <ern Handschriften, die moglichste Correctheit und Vollstandigkeit zu erlangen. In der Angabe des Fingersatzes, wodurch dieses Werk eine weit grfissere Gemeinnutzlichkeit erhalt, wurde stets der zweifache Gesichtspunkt beachtet Erstens, die Hande, auch in den verwickeltesten Fallen mdglichst ruhig zu halten Zweitens, jede einzelne Stimme von den Andern unabhangig, streng gebunden und folgerecht ausfuhren zu konnen.

Secondly, to enable the player to bring out

each separate part independently, with perfect smoothness, and with due regard to

Der Spieler wird

verwendende Miihe, sowohl auf dem Pianoforte wie auf der

the phrasing.

Patient study, either on the pianoforte or on the organ, will be rewarded by the rich and effect

full

produced by a smooth and flowing poly-

has been

finden, die mit

belohnt

einem vollstimmigen und

fliessen-

Das Zeitmass und den Vortrag habe

my

endeavor to indicate tempo

acter of each

movement

Fugen

according to the well-remem-

bered impression

number

einst

von Beethoven

vortragen

hSrte;

made on me by Beetho-

ven's rendering of a great

ich

Erstens, nach dem unzweifelhaften Character eines jeden Satzes Zweitens, nach der wohlbewahrten Erinnerung wie ich eine grosse Anzahl dieser

according to the unmistakable char-

Secondly,

Wirkung

den Spiele hervorgebracht wird.

and interpretation First,

die daran zu

Orgel, durch die gehaltreiche

phonic rendering. It

: ;

;

nach den Ideen aufzubewahren zeichnen und zu gesucht, welche Drittens, endlich

of these

fugues

ich selbst durch ein

mehr

als dreissigjahri-

Thirdly, according to convictions matured

ges Studium dieses Werkes

by more than thirty years' study of this work.

setzte.

Wo

in

mir

fest-

ein bedeutend schnelles Zeitmass vorge-

Wherever an extremely rapid tempo is indi- schrieben wurde, ist es naturlicher Weise nur cated, this is, of course, meant only for the piano- fiir das Pianoforte berechnet. Wollte man jeforte. When playing passages so marked on doch die so bezeichneten Satze auch auf der Orgel vortragen, dann miisste allerdings das Tempo the organ, the tempo must be moderated very bedeutend langsamer

genommen werden.

decidedly.

Those who have no Maelzel's Metronome hand are reminded, that the Allegro compositions

more

is

tranquilly

to be taken, as

and slowly than

in

a

in

at

these old

rule,

much

modern works.

Fiir

diejenigen, denen

kein

Maelzel'scher

Metronom zu Gebote steht, wird noch erinnert, dass das Allegro bei diesen altern Compositionen in der Regel viel ruhiger und langsamer zu nehmen ist, als bei modernen Tonstucken.

CARL CZERNY. Inverted

mordent.

Trill

Mordent

without after-beat.

-trr± Praller.

Mordent.

;

I Triller

ohne Nachschlag.

ixois

Trill

with after-beat.

Triller

mit Nachschlag,

Contents Vol.1 page 4

Fllg"a a 4 voci page 6

f^c^'

p

page 62

Puga

a 3 voci

Preludio

page 66

Fug"a

a 4 voci

page 68

Preludio

page 70

Puga

a 3 voci

page 72

Preludio

page 76

Puga

a 4 voci

pag-e 78

Preludio

page 80

Fuga

a 4 voci

Preludio

page 84

Puga

a 4 voci

page 86

Preludio

page 88

Fuga

a 3 voci

page 89

page 64

f^r

Preludio

page 8

Preludio

Preludio

7

Preludio

page 18

Puga

a 3 voci

Puga

a 3 voci

Fuga

a 5 voci

Preludio

page 24

Puga

a 4 voci

Preludio

page 28

Puga

a 3 voci

Preludio

page 32

Puga

a 3 voci

page 38

Pug"a

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page 10

page 14

page 20

page 26

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page 108

Fuga

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page 102

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