Francesco Fornasaro - J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue BWV 846 (The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH'S PRELUDE AND FUGUE BWV 846:

The famous Prelude no.1 in C major BWV 846 is the first arch of a colonnade that harmoniously introduces the entire cycle of the "Well-Tempered Clavier". Its limpid simplicity and perfect balance (to which is suited a very sweet and calm sound dissolving a majestic and solemn trend), are the result of three successive revisions. It consists of 35 measures characterized by a unique design consisting of a short arpeggio (broken chord) with the repetition of the last three notes, which form a spider's web of tireless and flowing arpeggios. In fact more than a real melodic line we can speak about a melody of chords that conceals in its web the solidity of a five-voice polyphony from which the delicate trait of a melodic 'cantus firmus' is released. The harmonic circle, very simple but characterized by different harmonic variations and numerous changes of tonality, is enriched by delays.

The Fugue, consisting of 27 measures, is a real 4 voice Fugue (type A) and is one of the most masterful in the entire collection, which is thus inaugurated with very high dignity. Because of its thematism, sturdy clarity, serenity and expressive strength, this Fugue is close to the Fugue BWV 545 for organ, in the same tonality. But suddenly Bach highlights his autonomy with respect to school rules by inserting the four voices of this work in the "heterodox" tonic / dominant / tonic scheme.
Without ever leaving the subject (which appears at the entrance for twenty-four times, a number that seems to allude to the twenty-four tones that the collection intends to explore) and minimizing the embellishments, this Fugue appears plentifully rich with particularly sagacious 'strettos' (a 'stretto', called 'Engführung' in German, is when one voice begins to sing the subject before another has finished it) which follow one another without re-expositions in various tones and without 'divertimentos'. The entrances in the 'strettos' are treated in a very varied manner.
The notes that form the subject are fourteen, the number obtained from the sum of the letters B A C H by numbering the alphabet (according to the principle of Jewish gematria: B = 2, A = 1, C = 3, H = 8). To be noted is the reversal of the 3rd with the 4th entrance into the exposition: the third voice enters on the dominant and the fourth on the tonic.
The composition, after frequent tonal changes, ends in its system tone with a large tonal pedal that seems to underline again its expressive vigor and its severe grandeur.


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), August 2014.

Music starts at minute 00:23


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