Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 867 — complete pair

Johann Sebastian Bach (1,685–1,750)

First published: 1801
Key: B-flat minor
Style: Baroque
Level: Diploma
Roughly: RCM ARCT · ABRSM ARSM · Trinity ATCL · Henle 7
Lesson: D.7 Keep a dense fugue intelligible
Musicianship: D.7 Augmented sixths
Focus: Independent voicing, subject entries, harmonic pacing, contrasting prelude/fugue character and complete-pair memory.

What its lesson teaches

D.7 Keep a dense fugue intelligible

Prepare the complete B-flat-minor Prelude and Fugue, BWV 867. Make a map of entries and their voices; compare two entries before deciding whether an answer changes an interval. Where entries approach or overlap, retain the companion line rather than simply making the newest voice loudest. The B-flat-major broken-octave preparation is a parallel-key movement model; return to the minor score for its own phrasing.

Ideas: Fugue vocabulary and structure
Independent voices
Theory cards: Reducing counterpoint
Fugue vocabulary
Technique: B-flat harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves
B-flat major broken octaves, hands separately: release and travel

Edition and licence

Score: Open Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, official OpenGoldberg/MuseScore edition

Encoding source: https://musescore.com/opengoldberg/scores/719526 · CC0

Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor, BWV 867 — complete pair

Edition: Open Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, official OpenGoldberg/MuseScore edition

First published: 1801

Source: https://musescore.com/opengoldberg/scores/719526 (Open Well-Tempered Clavier (2015), MuseScore, CC0)

Open Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, official OpenGoldberg/MuseScore edition

Encoding source: https://musescore.com/opengoldberg/scores/719526

CC0-1.0

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Adapted by Musalea: converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

The other lesson pieces of Diploma

Prelude and Fugue in F minor, BWV 857 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 — complete, Ludwig van Beethoven
Étude in B-flat minor, Op. 8 No. 11, Alexander Scriabin
Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 859 — complete pair, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp major, Op. 78 — complete, Ludwig van Beethoven
Berceuse in D-flat major, Op. 57, Frédéric Chopin
Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 No. 4 (Op. 142 No. 4) — complete, Franz Schubert
Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen, in E major, Ludwig van Beethoven
Mallorca (Barcarola), Op. 202, Isaac Albéniz
Sonatine, M.40 — I. Modéré, Maurice Ravel
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2, Johannes Brahms
Étude in G major, Op. 40 No. 1, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37: I. Allegro con brio, Ludwig van Beethoven

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