Wasseem

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach Germany in 1685. Bach could sing very well and studied Latin, Greek and theology in St. Michael’s School. He played organ in a church at Arnstadt when he was 18. The church didn’t really like him because of his improvisational style of the songs. So he walked to Lubeck to study with a famous organist Buxtehude. Buxtehude liked Bach so much that he offered to give him a job if he married his daughter, in which Bach declined. Some of his career moves include working as an organist to the Duke of Weimar from 1708 to 1717, moving to Cothen to be the leader of an orchestra to Prince Leopold from 1717 to 1723, and then Bach was appointed Cantor of the St Thomas School. By 1725, he has written 2 complete cycles of cantatas. By 1729 he has written 4 complete cycles of cantatas (200 cantatas!). In 1748, Bach was losing his eyesight and eventually went blind. He died in 1750 at the age of 65. Bach’s Lutheran faith was an important aspect of his music life, in which he writes “To the Glory of God” in many of his works. He was a master of contrapuntal arts and helped create the well-tempered tuning system we use to this day. In his lifetime Bach has composed over 1000 musical works.
Prelude & Fugue in C minor is a song in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier written in 1722. It contains 24 prelude & fugue which shows the Well-Tempered tuning system that Bach help create. The Well-Tempered tuning is not exact, which makes it possible to play all 12 major and minor keys- which was never done before.
The Prelude in C minor starts with fast 16th notes in perpetual motion. A monophonic link happens in measure 25 which leads to strict imitation until measure 28. After, it returns with fast 16th notes in perpetual motion followed by a 2 measure cadenza-like passage starting on measure 34. Near the end of the Prelude there is a tonic pedal point and then the prelude ends with a Picardy ending (a minor piece ending with a tonic major triad) from C minor to C major.
The Fugue begins with a subject composed of 16th and 8th notes. Then there is an melody in the dominant key with slight alteration called the tonal answer. The song continues with the countersubject. The middle section is filled with sequential material in which the subject is absent. The tonic pedal appears in the end and the subject is played one last and ends on E natural.