Francesco Fornasaro - J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue BWV 847 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH'S PRELUDE AND FUGUE BWV 847:

The Prelude, 38 bars long, is based for both hands on obstinate semichrome figures with the form of broken chords and assumes – passing through different harmonies and changes of key – the appearance of an impetuous and overwhelming Toccata culminating at bar 28 in a stormy and dramatic Presto, which ends at bar 33. Then, masterfully, the final 'coda' begins, consisting of two initial bars of Adagio where, as in a recitative-cadence, an arpeggiated chord is followed by a rapid succession of biscrome and semibiscrome leading to the final resolution, made of two bars by Allegro consisting of an articulated sequence of semichrome ending with an E♮ (major third), therefore wonderfully closing the piece with a 'picardy' third. The three tempo indications of the Prelude's last part (Presto, Adagio, Allegro, which were not yet included in the first edition of the work contained in the Klavierbüchlein of his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann) are by Bach himself.

As Alfredo Casella wrote about the Fugue, «the melancholy and transparent grace of this second Fugue [of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" Book 1], one of the few in the two books that really has a dance rhythm, is in strong contrast with the massive and pompous solemnity of the preceding Fugue [in C major]». And indeed the three-voices Fugue in C minor (type B), 31 bars long, owes its great popularity to the plastic beauty of its dancing subject – which is one of Bach's most memorable – with its triple insistence on the initial motif C-B♮-C which expresses a tonic-leading tone-tonic resolution not without torment. The writing is very free and the subject, after the first exposition which consist in the typical baroque period's repetition first by the soprano, on the dominant ('epidiapente'), then by the bass, in the home key, is no longer systematically elaborated but only compared, in whole or in part, to the two countersubjects. It reappears majestically to conclude first on bass then on the upper voice, and lights up on the last note newly with a picardy third, replicating the closing atmosphere of the Prelude.


Instrument: The harpsichord used in the recording - which is not the one that can be seen in the photograph that portrays me - is a French-Style double-manual by Zuckermann, copy after Blanchet/Taskin (second half of 18th century).

Temperament: Werckmeister III (unequal temperament) - Pitch (tuning reference): A = 415 Hz.

Recording: Florence (Italy), July 2014.

Music starts at minute 00:27.


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