Prelude and fugue in A major
BWV 896 performed by Christian Rieger
at home in Cologne, Germany
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
Simple and perfect
Contrapuntal mastery as a trademark
According to the German harpsichordist Christian Rieger, this early keyboard work, probably written when Bach was sixteen, is perfect in its simplicity. The Prelude, in particular, has an almost naive beauty. The little recapitulation at the end is distinctive, as the final cadence is played twice, lending a resigned character to the whole.
The Fugue has also survived separately, and it is uncertain whether these two pieces were actually conceived as a whole by Bach. In any case, the Fugue is more ambitious in structure than the Prelude. Bach barely leaves the key of A major, thereby placing the emphasis on the distinctive theme. Here, Bach exhausts all the possibilities and then continues for a while at the point where other composers would probably have finished off. Even at an early age, he was making contrapuntal mastery his trademark.
- BWV
- 896
- Title
- Prelude and fugue in A major
- Instrument
- harpsichord
- Genre
- harpsichord works
- Year
- ca. 1700-1710
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 22 February 2019
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- Recording date
- 20 April 2017
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- Location
- Cologne, Germany
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- Harpsichordist
- Christian Rieger
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- Harpsichord
- David Sutherland (Michigan 1990) after Christian Zell (Hamburg 1728)
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- Director
- Jan Van den Bossche, Hanna Schreuders
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- Music recording, edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera and interview
- Gijs Besseling
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- Edditing
- Augustine Huijsser
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- Producer
- Jessie Verbrugh
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