Prelude and Fugue in C minor from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier
Among Bach's clavier works, 48 preludes and fugues, which make up two volumes (24 preludes and fugues each), are of great artistic value. This work was called "The Well-Tempered Clavier".
The number of plays was not accidental. Bach wrote for the clavier of a new design at that time. The keyboard of this instrument was divided into equal intervals - semitones, that is, evenly tempered. The octave began to contain 12 equal semitones. This made it possible to form 12 major and 32 minor keys. Bach set himself the goal of practically proving that in an equal temperament system all 24 keys are equal and sound equally good. He proved this twice by writing 48 preludes and fugues in all the keys of major and minor (Prior to Bach, keys with only a small number of key signs were used. ( This material will help to write competently on the subject of Bach's Prelude. The summary does not make it possible to understand the whole meaning of the work, therefore this material will be useful for a deep understanding of the work of writers and poets, as well as their novels, short stories, stories, plays, poems.) The reason was the uneven temperament of the instruments. The octave was not divided into equal intervals, keys with many signs sounded false. This greatly limited the possibilities of performance, hampered the creativity of composers).
The prelude and fugue together form a two-part polyphonic cycle. Like the dances of the suite, the prelude and fugue are in most cases contrasted with each other. Many of Bach's preludes are inherent in an improvisational character, their construction is not associated with strict laws. Often they have a pronounced chordal, homophonic basis. The fugue is a strictly polyphonic work. At the same time, like the suite, the prelude and fugue are united not only by a common tonality, but also by very subtle internal connections that are different in each individual case.
Such, for example, are the prelude and fugue in C minor from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier.
The prelude is distinguished by a clear and energetic rhythm. The fast tempo and uniform texture of the sixteenths) give the music great vivacity and mobility. It is precisely such a continuously fluid character of movement that is inherent in the preludes of a polyphonic warehouse.
In the second half of the prelude, the markedly clear movement is replaced by a wide "run-up" of arpeggiated passages. Then the movement stops - a short episode follows (only one measure), reminiscent of a recitative solo in a vocal work. He brings into the prelude a moment of reflection, reflection. Expressive intonations, stops in motion color the music in pathetic tones, give the statement great significance. This is, as it were, a wise "word" from the author - the culmination of the prelude. Then comes a small conclusion. Arpeggiated passages gradually lose their Assertiveness, which is facilitated by the sustained bass in C. The last sound of the prelude - the major third - paints the conclusion in enlightened tones (At the time of Bach, the major triad was perceived as more stable than the minor.).
The energetic and lively fugue bears a marked resemblance to a prelude. The word "fugue" in Latin means "running". In music, a fugue is a complex polyphonic work, where one voice seems to catch up with another or respond to another.
Most fugues are based on a single theme. Much less common are double and triple fugues - with two and three themes. The fugu always begins with one voice that introduces the theme. As in inventions and "symphonies", the theme of the fugue is the "seed" from which the whole work grows. Depending on the number of voices, the fugue can be two-part, three-part, four- or five-part.
The fugue in C minor has three parts. The names of the voices of the fugue are the same as the names of the voices in the choir: soprano, alto, bass. The fugue begins with a monophonic presentation of the theme in the middle (alto) voice in the main key. Three times the main melodic turnover, a more moderate tempo than in the prelude, some danceability of the rhythm, grace and grace make it especially embossed and well remembered.
The second conduct is entrusted to the upper (soprano) voice in the dominant key of G minor. This is where the topic gets the name "answer" or "satellite".
After a small two-bar interlude, built on the main melodic turn of the theme, it sounds for the third time - in bass. The alternate presentation of the theme in each of the voices constitutes the first section of the fugue - its exposition ("Exposition" in Latin means "exposition".).
The second two-bar interlude connects the exposition with the middle section of the fugue, the development. Development begins in E-flat major, a key parallel to C minor. Major paints music in bright colors. In development, the theme takes place in various keys. Movement is also activated in the interludes.
With the return of the main key, the third section of the fugue begins - the reprise ("reprise" in translation from French - "resumption", "repetition".). The theme sounds here only in the main key. Its appearance further in the lowest register gives the sound a special significance and is perceived as the culmination of the fugue. The bass doubles an octave, giving the music the power of an organ sound. Gradually, the movement calms down. The fugue ends with a major chord, which, after a dramatic climax, sounds especially enlightened.
The different nature of the prelude and fugue does not prevent us from perceiving them as two parts of one cycle. In addition to a single tonality, this is facilitated by the activity of movement in both pieces, the same location and dramatic nature of the climaxes, and, finally, the similarity of the “fading” enlightened conclusions.
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To find out how, under what circumstances, the small cycle was formed, it is necessary to trace the formation of each of its components: the fugue itself and the prelude.
Praeludere (lat. "to play in advance, prepare for the game") arose in the improvisations of church organists, establishing the mode (mode) of the music to be performed during the service; with similar impromptu "introductions", performers tested the tuning and tone of their instruments. "The earliest surviving organ preludes are found in the Yleborg Tablature (1448), Paumann's Fundamentum organisandi (1452) and the Buxheim Organ Book (1460-70)." The prelude was not characterized by a specific form, the improvisational beginning prevailed, because, often acting as a sample instrument before any play, the prelude not only preceded it musically, but often contrasted it. The characteristic features of the prelude are the use from beginning to end of a single type of texture, free development, figurative development of material, often imitation and elements of a polyphonic warehouse. In mature manifestations, the prelude is “an important independent type of composition, often very lengthy, the purpose of which is to anticipate the nature and mood of the service, to give a poetic musical commentary on the traditional text of the anthem. The chorale prelude was cultivated by Bach's North German predecessors - especially Scheidt, Buxtehude, Pachelbel and Böhm.
Pieces similar to preludes also had other names: preamble, intrada, richercar, fantasy, toccata.
Toccata, like the prelude, was born from the “essence of instrumental playing”, but still there are significant differences between them: “most likely, organ and clavier toccatas arose from trumpet fanfare, which opened the festivities in the late Middle Ages ... Pretorius ... points to the chord warehouse toccatas: the organist must, when playing it, give simple but ornamented chords. In this regard, it is important to note the difference between the toccata and the prelude, the nature of which was not predetermined by the festive procession, but had the origins of an everyday, lyrical-improvisational nature.
The fantasy genre is one of the oldest in instrumental music and dates back to the 16th century. Unlike early instrumental genres, which had a close connection with vocal ones, fantasy has an improvisational nature of precisely an instrumental nature (because it was originally performed on plucked instruments). Its features "are expressed in the deviation of the norms of construction for their time, unusual combinations of "terms" usual for this era - structural and meaningful." In the period of interest to us - the era of strict style - the fantasy genre was marked by a magnificent flowering.
Developing, these improvisational forms (fantasies, preludes, toccatas) were divided into two directions: “In the 18th century. preludes began to be created as independent plays; at the same time ... a stable cycle of prelude-fugue developed, in which both components set off each other.
“The result of the evolution of fantasy towards the end of the 18th century ... is the transformation into a prelude to a fugue or into an independent free form.”
The emergence of the fugue, a musical form that left almost none of the composers of different eras indifferent, was prepared by the entire history of counterpoint, starting from the 15th century. The most ancient type of development - variation, - in the Renaissance, developed in the work of many composers into well-defined genre forms of both vocal and instrumental music. All of them were united by the dominant variational principle of development. “The artistic practice of the end of the 16th - the first half of the 17th century provides excellent examples of the commonality of forms in such genres as ricercar, canzona, fantasy and, finally, fugue ... The ricercar gradually turned into fugue, the canzone also partly joined with fugue ...., fantasy led both to fugue, and to the free form of fantasy proper, the fugue, originally subordinate to the principle of variation, under the influence of the old sonata, three-part form and rondo, overcame variation and became a manifestation of the independent principle of musical form.
Fuga (lat. - flight) at first denoted the canon, and when the term "fugue" was rethought, it is impossible to pinpoint exactly. Some researchers give more precise dates, for example, R. Gruber: “Giovanni Gabrieli brings the richercar closer to the fugue with the help of plastic characteristic themes and their contrapuntal development ... The famous organ piece ... 1595 is essentially the first fugue that has come down to us.” In the work “Syntagma Musicum” (1619) by the German theorist M. Pretorius, the fugue is already defined in its modern meaning: “The fugue is nothing more than the frequent repetition of the same theme in different places. It is named so from the word "run", i.e. one voice catches up with the other, singing the same theme. In Italian, she means ricercare, which means "to explore", "seek", "find". It is by this figure that musical talent should be most judged, whether he is able to evoke sounds suitable for a certain kind of melodies and combine them with each other in a good and laudable sequence.
It was in the ricercar of the 16th century. the features characteristic of the fugue were determined: the theme-cell, its inversions, increases, decreases, mobile counterpoint, stretta combinations. The theme-response relationship (leader-companion) determined not only the expositional succession, but also the continuing part. Later, the ricercar acquired a specifically instrumental character, and in the "XVII century the number of topics in it was reduced to one - this process led directly to the fugue." As you can see, the individual components of the fugue were polished over a number of centuries, absorbing (absorbing) the changes characteristic of a particular historical and cultural period.
“One of the secrets of such resilience was revealed more than a hundred years ago by Ludwig Bussler, the author of the book “Strict Style. A textbook of simple and complex counterpoint, imitations, fugues and canons in church modes ": of all the forms based on imitation, the fugue is the most perfect, not only because it can accommodate all contrapuntal forms in its further development, but also because it combines the conditions of the greatest rigor and the most unlimited freedom.
"In the Baroque era, the main cyclical forms were the suite, the sonata da chiesa, the concerto grosso, and the form consisting of prelude (toccata, fantasia) and fugue." Thus, many researchers agree that the prelude-fugue cycle developed much earlier than the 17th century. And even the “weaving of fates” of prelude and fugue in a truly polyphonic style: penetrating each other, interacting in every possible way over the centuries, these two diverse, heterogeneous forms merged into a strong tandem, a vicious circle, a “microuniverse”.
The outstanding contemporary composer Valentin Silvestrov, in one of his lectures on music, said approximately the following:"Фуга... Что такое этот музыкальный термин, можно понять, обратившись к Баху. Этого будет вполне достаточно".!}
Fugue: what is polyphony
The modern listener perceives the fugue as a secular piece of music. The man who lived in the 17th century was a deeply religious person. The fugue was performed in the church, continued the conversation with God in prayer in a language understandable to everyone of deep musical and religious symbols.
Bach's work is associated with the era of the Reformation, the main condition of which is the thought of salvation and faith. Secular life is also saturated with Protestantism and the ideas of Lutheranism. Rather, both of them (spiritual and secular) embodied the human desire for knowledge of the divine essence. Fugue is not just complex music, but a kind of spiritual code of German musical culture of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. Subsequently, it became the property of the whole world.
"My name is Bach"
We will try to explain what a fugue is with an example from cinema.
In the early 2000s, the Swiss made a film called My Name is Bach. It has an amazing episode. The aging Johann Sebastian Bach comes to Potsdam to visit his son. Young King Frederick (future Frederick the Great) showing the composer a collection of musical instruments. He immediately arrogantly invites the master to write a fugue for three voices on a topic he has chosen in advance. Then he decides that the composer's homework is too easy. He complicates it by declaring that he prefers to own a six-voice fugue. The king is clearly provoking the guest. What is commonly understood in musical terminology under the concept of "fugue"? What is six voices? And why is a seemingly innocent conversation humiliating for the master?
Canon
To begin with, let's turn to the canon, a faithful assistant to musicians in the Renaissance. Douglas Hofstadter, author of the world-famous book Gödel, Escher, Bach: This Infinite Garland, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize, has a description of it.
In canon, the theme is played and repeated in multiple voices. The simplest is circular, when entering, the second voice copies the theme, then others join in turn. The next step: the topics differ in tonality, the voices sound at different tempos.
The canons use complex reversed themes. Bach in his work often resorted to them. Ascending moves turn into descending ones while maintaining the intervals. The most bizarre form of such a canon is the "backward" canon, in which the theme is played backwards. It is called "crayfish".
Canon and fugue
The fugue is similar to the canon in that the main melody and imitations are performed by voices in different keys, sometimes at a different tempo. But she is not so strict, emotionally richer. One voice leads the topic to the end. Then the next one enters, but in a different key. The first voice complements the theme, contrasting with the main one. Subsequent themes enrich the fugue with melodies. In the end, all voices are heard without respecting the rules. Thus, fugue is defined as a polyphonic musical form in which one theme is played in different voices (usually 3 of them) keys and modifications.
Of the 48 preludes and fugues of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, there are only two in five parts. Hofstadter believes that such a construction of improvisation is similar in complexity to a blind chess game on 60 boards at the same time. But back to the plot of the movie.
Gift to the monarch with a riddle
Bach returns home to Leipzig, sends the monarch a rich musical gift, which, among other things, includes 2 fugues for 3 and 6 voices. The canons sent as an offering were intentionally incomplete. The impolite Friedrich was given the opportunity to come up with an ending on his own, but the monarch could not do this. Only a few years later, a student of Bach will complete them. Fugues have many solutions, so it was impossible to put Friedrich in an awkward position.
Prelude and Toccata
Bach's prelude is a preface that precedes something important, significant. The chorale prelude was played on the clavier or church organ before the chorale was performed by the community of parishioners. The composer's prelude and fugue are usually conceived at the same time. Prelude - free improvisation. A fugue is an important maxim, a thought. In the preludes, the mood is prepared before the beginning of a more significant piece of music, with strong images.
Over time, Bach, creating polyphonic cycles, elevated the prelude, put it on a par with the fugue. In the future, composers turn less and less to the prelude, although Chopin, Debussy, Scriabin, Shostakovich, Shchedrin, Slonimsky have them.
If fugue means "running" in Italian, then toccata means touch or blow. Bach's toccata and fugue in D minor are known to all. It usually refers to the organ work BWV 565, although the composer wrote a great many works of this nature.
Leonard Bernstein: on the difficulty of understanding Bach
The arguments of the American composer and conductor Leonard Burstein, a popularizer of classical music, are interesting. He believes that the devastating musical style of Bach awes composers, awes performers and discourages all other uninitiated in musical mysteries.
As his own views (Burstein's views) on Bach's work changed, the understanding comes that the composer's music hides the greatest beauty hidden from a cursory reading. “And you have probably never heard this music…” Burstein ends his reflections with a provocative phrase. At first glance, the strange idea is simple and understandable. You can often hear skeptical arguments, as if all these concepts are so hackneyed: fugue, minor, and the master's music itself sounds almost from every iron.
Fugue ... What it is, it is not clear to everyone. And today the composer's music, like three centuries ago, is difficult to listen to, efforts and knowledge are required. And it certainly is a lot of work. Hearing and hearing, Burstein believes, are different concepts.
baroque music
The 17th century is considered rational. He went down in history, along with other achievements of human thought, baroque music. She, as in a mirror, reflects the joys and contradictions of the age. The prelude and the fugue are two unified interrelated works. Prelude - improvisation and flight, fantasy, takeoff.
The fugue is life itself, measured, orderly, solemn and somewhat ponderous. The first part is like youth, light, running away, cheerful. The second is serious, polyphonic, subject to the laws of a mature and complex world. Fugue is a game of "who will catch up with whom." The theme arises in one voice, then in another, they alternate, disappear, they are replaced by losses. Then they (voices) try to catch up with each other, literally stepping on their heels.
Bach's creative heritage is huge and priceless. He left 1100 works to posterity. Experts say that this is only a third of everything written.
"Well-Tempered Clavier"
Prelude and Fugue in C major, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major, Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor - and so on through all twelve semitones included in the octave. The result is a total of 24 two-part "prelude and fugue" cycles in all major and minor keys. This is how both volumes (in total - 48 preludes and fugues) of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier are built. This grandiose work is recognized as one of the greatest in world musical art. The preludes and fugues from these two volumes are included in the training and concert repertoire of all professional pianists.
In the time of Bach, in the tuning of keyboard instruments, uniform temperament was gradually finally established - dividing the octave into twelve equal semitones. Previously, the customization system was more complex. With her, in keys with more than three or four characters, some intervals and chords sounded out of tune. Therefore, composers avoided using such keys. Bach was the first to brilliantly prove in The Well-Tempered Clavier that with equal temperament, all 24 keys can be used with equal success. This opened up new horizons for composers, increasing, for example, the ability to make modulations (transitions) from one key to another.
In the Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach established the type of two-movement cycle "prelude and fugue". The prelude is built freely. In it, a significant role may belong to the homophonic-harmonic warehouse and improvisation. This creates a contrast to the fugue as a strictly polyphonic work. At the same time, the parts of the "prelude and fugue" cycle are united not only by a common tonality. Between them, in each case, subtle internal connections are manifested in their own way.
These common characteristics can be seen in Preludes and Fugues in C minor from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier. The prelude consists of two main sections. The more spacious first is completely filled with a quick uniform movement of sixteenths in both hands. It is saturated from the inside with expressive melodic and harmonic elements. It seems as if, constrained by the shores, a restless stream rages:
Having accumulated powerful energy, this flow at the end of the first section, as it were, overflows over the edge and at the beginning of the next section it becomes even more impetuous, threatening to sweep away everything in its path. This climax of the prelude is marked by a change in tempo to the fastest one (Pgesto) and the use of a polyphonic device - a two-voice canon. But the raging elements are suddenly stopped by imperious strokes of chords and meaningful phrases of recitative. Here comes the second change of pace - to the slowest one (Adagio). And after the third change of tempo to a moderately fast A11eggo in the final bars of the prelude, the tonic organ point in the bass gradually slows down the movement of the sixteenths in the right hand. It becomes softly spreading and freezes on a C major chord. There is peace, tranquility.
After such a free, improvisational completion of the prelude, attention switches to a different, contrasting plan. A three-voice fugue begins.
This word in Latin and Italian means "running", "flight", "fast current". In music, a fugue is a complex polyphonic work, where the voices seem to echo, catching up with each other. Most fugues are based on a single theme. Less common are fugues with two, even more rarely with three or four themes. And according to the number of voices, fugues are two-, three-, four- and five-part.
Single-dark fugues begin with a presentation of the theme in the main key in any one voice. The theme is then imitated alternately by the other voices. This is how the first section of the fugue, the exposition, is formed. In the second section - development - the theme appears only in other keys. And in the third, last section - reprise 9 - it is again carried out in the main key, but it is no longer presented in one voice. The exposition here is definitely not repeated. In fugues, retained counterpositions and interludes are widely used.
Bach's C minor fugue in question begins, appearing in the middle voice, with a clear, embossed, well-remembered theme with an elastic dance rhythm:
The monumental Bach cycle of preludes and fugues, known as the Well-Tempered Clavier, is rightly considered one of the highest achievements of musical art. When creating it, Bach set himself a very specific goal - to acquaint those playing the clavier with all 24 major and minor keys (many keys with a large number of key signs were not in use at that time). He wanted to show the undoubted advantage of the new tempered tuning of keyboard instruments over the natural tuning generally accepted in the old days. The idea of temperament before Bach was also creatively supported by other musicians, for example, Pachelbel, Matteson, but Bach's solution to this artistic problem became unique in its skill and inspiration.
The appearance of the 1st volume of the "HTK" refers to 1722, the 2nd - to 1744; both volumes contain works from different years.
In both parts of the HTK, the preludes and fugues are arranged in pairs in “small cycles” (prelude and fugue in the same key) in ascending sequence along the chromatic scale.
In "HTK" Bach emphasized the characteristic semantics various tones. So, for example, D-dur personifies energy and triumph, c-moll - severe drama and pathos; Bach's h-moll is associated with a tense, passionate and mournful mood; es-moll and b-moll - with images of humility and sadness; E-dur and Fis-dur are associated with gentle pastoral images. B-dur - the tone of "angels and babies", very gentle and pure.
The fugue is built exclusively on the passages of the theme, which form numerous stretches. The 1st stretta appears already within the exposition (bars 7-8). The three-part and four-part strettas are contained in the middle part of the fugue. The theme here changes intonation: altered steps appear, mind 4 instead of part 4. Of the three recapitulations of the theme, 2 are also given in the form of a stretta. The fugue is completed by the anabasis figure - an ascending scale of five sounds (a symbol of resurrection).
AT cycle D-dur the music of the prelude is notable for its lightness, grace, rhythmic elasticity, and the lush and majestic music of the fugue is sustained in the "theatrical" style of the French overture (the theme stands out for a sweeping upward leap to the sixth and dotted rhythm, which are developed in wide interludes). Lush, majestic fugue music is sustained in the "theatrical" style of the French overture (dotted rhythm, sweeping upward leap to the sixth).
Chopin (op. 28) and Scriabin (op. 11) arranged their preludes according to the principle of tonal relationship. Bach, obviously, was interested in a more visual arrangement of the keys of the tempered system.
Semantics - semantic meaning.
Other titles of this kind were also used, for example preamble, intrada, ricercar, fantasy, capriccio, toccata etc.
Rising quarts have long been used to express cheerfulness, mental stamina. In old chants and cantatas, quart-interval motifs often contain key words that speak of faith in the Lord.
