Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" (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 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 focal points mentioned by Bach in his original 1722 title page. Drawing on Bach literature over the past 300 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 18th-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 should equip readers with the concepts necessary to make their own assessment and include information about the sources when details of notation, ornaments and fingerings have a bearing on performance.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Magnificent. . . . Rich in scholarship and insight." -- Piano Today
About the Author
David Ledbetter is senior lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For the Bach-Lover,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Bach's Well-tempered Clavier: The 48 Preludes and Fugues (Hardcover)
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!
3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a lot of facts, but a few gaps,
By 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.
9 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a lot of facts, but a few gaps,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Bach's Well-tempered Clavier: The 48 Preludes and Fugues (Hardcover)
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.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
The unspecific nature of the word Clavier in early eighteenth-century Germany has left the question of Bach's preferred instrument for The Well-tempered Clavier open to much argumentation and assumptions based on personal prejudice. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
verset tradition, stretto recto, stile antiro, sharp major fugue, ritornello shape, sharp major prelude, sonata guise, sharp minor fugue, subdominant reprise, verset collections, tonic entry, flat major fugue, triple stretto, keyboard counterpoint, flat major prelude, first countersubject, word clavier, sharp minor prelude, clavier works, whole comma, flat prelude, tonic reprise, triple counterpoint, lamento bass, dance metre Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Anna Magdalena Bach, Johann Christoph, Goldberg Variations, Fischer's Ariadne, Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, Wilhelm Friedemann, Art of Fugue, Peter Williams, Andreas Bach Book, Fux's Gradus, Chromatic Fantasia, Domenico Scarlatti, Hermann Keller, English Suites, Johann Nicolaus Bach, Christoph Wolff, Fischer's Praeludium, Jakob Adlung, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, Johann Pachelbel, Michael Mietke New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
The unspecific nature of the word Clavier in early eighteenth-century Germany has left the question of Bach's preferred instrument for The Well-tempered Clavier open to much argumentation and assumptions based on personal prejudice. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
verset tradition, stretto recto, stile antiro, sharp major fugue, ritornello shape, sharp major prelude, sonata guise, sharp minor fugue, subdominant reprise, verset collections, tonic entry, flat major fugue, triple stretto, keyboard counterpoint, flat major prelude, first countersubject, word clavier, sharp minor prelude, clavier works, whole comma, flat prelude, tonic reprise, triple counterpoint, lamento bass, dance metre Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Anna Magdalena Bach, Johann Christoph, Goldberg Variations, Fischer's Ariadne, Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, Wilhelm Friedemann, Art of Fugue, Peter Williams, Andreas Bach Book, Fux's Gradus, Chromatic Fantasia, Domenico Scarlatti, Hermann Keller, English Suites, Johann Nicolaus Bach, Christoph Wolff, Fischer's Praeludium, Jakob Adlung, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, Johann Pachelbel, Michael Mietke New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 30
books:
See all 30 books this book cites
- Goldberg Variations: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics) by Ralph Kirkpatrick on 14 pages
- Johann Sebastian Bach the Learned Musici by Christoph Wolff on 4 pages
- Englishche Suiten (Music Scores) by Johann Sebastian Bach on 4 pages
- French Suites: Piano Solo by Johann Sebastian Bach on page 67, page 130, and Back Matter
- The Organist As Scholar: Essays in Memory of Russell Saunders (Festschrift Series) by Kerala J. Snyder in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 30 books this book cites
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
|
|
