J.S. Bach - Prelude & Fuge in C major BWV 547

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 -- 28 July 1750)
Genre: Organ, Classical
Period: Baroque

The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV547, is probably Bach's last composition in this genre from the beginning of the 1740s. The Prelude, in 9/8 time, has a joyful dance-like character and is characterised by concentrated but well-exploited thematic material. The rising scale of the introduction resembles the introductory chorus of the Christmas Cantata No.65, Sie werden aus Sabe kommen, and the almost ostinatolike
falling motif in the pedal also has Christmas associations. At the end the flow is suddenly interrupted after an organ point on the dominant consisting of heavily accented chords with daring harmonies, which then finds its way to a new tonic organ point with pure, diatonic motions. Exactly the same thing happens at the end of the Fugue, and here the chords are even more daring -- diminished seventh chords throughout. The Fugue has an original formal construction; the first pedal entry is two thirds of the way through the piece and is highly magnified. Then the four-part manual writing is intensified even more and the harmonic expression is increased to the point where the entry of the pedal provides the only satisfactory resolution. The fugue theme is only one bar long (we observe a certain similarity with the chorale Allein Gott in der Höh -- not least if we compare with the little fughetta BWV676 from Clavierübung III), and it is repeated more than 50 times in the 72-bar-long fugue. The final chord comes as a shock; it is only held for a quaver after a pedal point lasting more than five bars.

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