Product Description

Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (or the 48 Preludes and Fugues) stands at the core of baroque keyboard music and has been a model and inspiration for performers and composers ever since it was written. This invaluable guide to the 96 pieces explains Bach's various purposes in compiling the music, describes the rich traditions on which he drew, and provides commentaries for each prelude and fugue.

In his text, David Ledbetter addresses the main focal points mentioned by Bach in his original 1722 title page. Drawing on Bach literature over the past three hundred years, he explores German traditions of composition types and Bach's novel expansion of them; explains Bach's instruments and innovations in keyboard technique in the general context of early eighteenth-century developments; reviews instructive and theoretical literature relating to keyboard temperaments from 1680 to 1750; and discusses Bach's pedagogical intent when composing the Well-Tempered Clavier. Ledbetter's commentaries on individual preludes and fugues equip readers with the concepts necessary to make their own assessments and include information about the sources when details of ornament, notation, and fingerings have a bearing on performance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #399587 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
"Magnificent. . . . Rich in scholarship and insight." -- Piano Today

About the Author
David Ledbetter is senior lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Customer Reviews

For the Bach-Lover
Purchased this as a gift for a Bachophile friend, who reports that is the best work on the subject of "the 48" and vastly informative and interesting. This is obviously a book for those who have some knowledge of musical theory, and know and play this work, to add to their delectation. Bach rules!

a lot of facts, but a few gaps
The first half of the book is related only marginally to the purported topic of the book. Here the author discusses Baroque keyboard instruments, Baroque tuning systems, Baroque musical forms, and Bach's pedagogical technique, with only occasional allusion to the Well-Tempered Clavier.

The second half of the book is more in line with what I expected. This is where the author analyzes each movement one by one. However, he does not hit every section of every fugue. I was disappointed with the discussion of the f minor and A major fugues in Book I and the G major and g minor fugues in Book II.

Moreover, the author uses several terms which he does not define. I don't understand the terms rhetoric, verset, galant, stile antico, empfindsam, monochord, Gedackt, and Pythagorean third, so I guess I'm not good enough to join the author's club.

a lot of facts, but a few gaps
The first half of the book is related only marginally to the purported topic of the book. Here the author discusses Baroque keyboard instruments, Baroque tuning systems, Baroque musical forms, and Bach's pedagogical technique, with only occasional allusion to the Well-Tempered Clavier.

The second half of the book is more in line with what I expected. This is where the author analyzes each movement one by one. However, he does not hit every section of every fugue. I was disappointed with the discussion of the f minor and A major fugues in Book I and the G major and g minor fugues in Book II.

Moreover, the author uses several terms which he does not define. I don't understand the terms rhetoric, verset, galant, stile antico, empfindsam, monochord, Gedackt, and Pythagorean third, so I guess I'm not good enough to join the author's club.