Finally, some reasonable keys! Today we’ll look at sets No. 10 and 11 in the Well-Tempered Clavier book II: E minor and F major respectively. The performance is by John Butt – a renowned Bach scholar from England, who not only is an organist and harpsichordist but also conducts the Scottish baroque ensemble Dunedin Consort.

Butt recorded both books of the WTC in 2013, playing on a harpsichord built by Bruce Kennedy, after a German instrument from the very early 1700’s by Michael Mietke. Mietke is believed to have provided a harpsichord to the court at Cöthen, on which Bach may have premiered the 5th Brandenburg Concerto.

E minor

The E minor prelude is in 3/8, in two repeating sections. It features two voices which chase one another continuously with figurations and ornaments that appear consecutively in each voice. The fugue, in 3 parts and cut tempo, is built on a complex, animated theme, the longest one in the entire book (6 bars), rhythmically varied with 16th note motifs, triplets and syncopations. This fugue survives in 2 different versions, one in Bach’s autograph and a longer, more elaborate one in Altnickol’s copy.

F major

The prelude of this set evokes a more relaxed mood than the previous one. 4 parts alternatively move in eights or quarters over harmonies in long sustained notes, in a ternary tempo, somewhat evocative of a pastoral atmosphere. The fugue is set in a curious meter of 6/16, and it resembles a gigue. It’s in 3 parts and very vivacious, and its jumpy theme is very easy to pick out as the different voices enunciate it.