J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, BWV 846-869

Featuring

Trevor Pinnock
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Cultural Impact

The Well-Tempered Clavier has profoundly influenced generations of musicians, including Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Mahler, and Webern.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, was intended for the profit and use of musical young people curious to learn, and as a pastime for those already skilled.

Instruments

The harpsichord used for this recording was made in 1982 by David Way, modeled after instruments by the 18th-century French harpsichord builder Henri Hemsch.

Composition History

Bach was inspired by J.C.F. Fischer's Ariadne Musica, a collection of organ pieces, when conceiving The Well-Tempered Clavier, even reusing one of Fischer's fugue themes.

Composition History

J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, includes eleven preludes originally written for his son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who was also a composer.

Interpretation

Trevor Pinnock, the performer, chose to record this album at the prevailing pitch in Köthen during Bach's time, which is approximately a tone below modern piano pitch.

Composition History

The musical lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber reported that Bach wrote much of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, in a place of 'ennui and boredom,' leading to speculation it was composed in prison.