Bach - Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Stadtfeld)

CD1
1.01: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier I BWV 846-869 (24 Präludien und Fugen)
1.01: Präludium Nr. 1 C-Dur BWV 846
1.02: Fuge Nr. 1 C-Dur BWV 846
1.03: Präludium Nr. 2 c-moll BWV 847
1.04: Fuge Nr. 2 c-moll BWV 847
1.05: Präludium Nr. 3 Cis-Dur BWV 848
1.06: Fuge Nr. 3 Cis-Dur BWV 848
1.07: Präludium Nr. 4 cis-moll BWV 849
1.08: Fuge Nr. 4 cis-moll BWV 849
1.09: Präludium Nr. 5 D-Dur BWV 850
1.10: Fuge Nr. 5 D-Dur BWV 850
1.11: Präludium Nr. 6 d-moll BWV 851
1.12: Fuge Nr. 6 d-moll BWV 851
1.13: Präludium Nr. 7 Es-Dur BWV 852
1.14: Fuge Nr. 7 Es-Dur BWV 852
1.15: Präludium Nr. 8 es-moll BWV 853
1.16: Fuge Nr. 8 es-moll BWV 853
1.17: Präludium Nr. 9 E-Dur BWV 854
1.18: Fuge Nr. 9 E-Dur BWV 854
1.19: Präludium Nr. 10 e-moll BWV 855
1.20: Fuge Nr. 10 e-moll BWV 855
1.21: Präludium Nr. 11 F-Dur BWV 856
1.22: Fuge Nr. 11 F-Dur BWV 856
1.23: Präludium Nr. 12 f-moll BWV 857
1.24: Fuge Nr. 12 f-moll BWV 857

CD2
2.01: Präludium Nr. 13 Fis-Dur BWV 858
2.02: Fuge Nr. 13 Fis-Dur BWV 858
2.03: Präludium Nr. 14 fis-moll BWV 859
2.04: Fuge Nr. 14 fis-moll BWV 859
2.05: Präludium Nr. 15 G-Dur BWV 860
2.06: Fuge Nr. 15 G-Dur BWV 860
2.07: Präludium Nr. 16 g-moll BWV 861
2.08: Fuge Nr. 16 g-moll BWV 861
2.09: Präludium Nr. 17 As-Dur BWV 862
2.10: Fuge Nr. 17 As-Dur BWV 862
2.11: Präludium Nr. 18 gis-moll BWV 863
2.12: Fuge Nr. 18 gis-moll BWV 863
2.13: Präludium Nr. 19 A-Dur BWV 864
2.14: Fuge Nr. 19 A-Dur BWV 864
2.15: Präludium Nr. 20 a-moll BWV 865
2.16: Fuge Nr. 20 a-moll BWV 865
2.17: Präludium Nr. 21 B-Dur BWV 866
2.18: Fuge Nr. 21 B-Dur BWV 866
2.19: Präludium Nr. 22 b-moll BWV 867
2.20: Fuge Nr. 22 b-moll BWV 867
2.21: Präludium Nr. 23 H-Dur BWV 868
2.22: Fuge Nr. 23 H-Dur BWV 868
2.23: Präludium Nr. 24 h-moll BWV 869
2.24: Fuge Nr. 24 h-moll BWV 869

Martin Stadtfeld – piano

The Well-Tempered Clavier (German: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier), BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. He first gave the title to a book of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, dated 1722, composed "for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study." Bach later compiled a second book of the same kind, dated 1742, but titled it only "Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues." The two works are now usually considered to make up a single work, The Well-Tempered Clavier, and are referred to respectively as Books I and II. The Well-Tempered Clavier is generally regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of Western classical music.

The first book was compiled in the year 1722 during Bach's appointment in Köthen; the second book followed it 20 years later in 1742 while he was in Leipzig. Both were widely circulated in manuscript, but printed copies were not made until 1801, by three publishers almost simultaneously in Bonn, Leipzig and Zurich. Bach's style went out of favour in the time around his death, and most music in the early Classical period had neither contrapuntal complexity nor a great variety of keys. But, with the maturing of the Classical style in the 1770s, the Well-Tempered Clavier began to influence the course of musical history, with Haydn and Mozart studying the work closely.

Each book contains twenty-four pairs of preludes and fugues. The first pair is in C major, the second in C minor, the third in C-sharp major, the fourth in C-sharp minor, and so on. The rising chromatic pattern continues until every key has been represented, finishing with a B-minor fugue.

Bach recycled some of the preludes and fugues from earlier sources: the 1720 Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, for instance, contains versions of eleven of the preludes. The C-sharp major prelude and fugue in book one was originally in C major - Bach added a key signature of seven sharps and adjusted some accidentals to convert it to the required key. The far-reaching influence of Bach's music is evident in that the fugue subject in Mozart's Prelude and Fugue in C Major K. 394 is isomorphic to that of the A-flat major Fugue in Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier. This pattern is found also in the C Major fugue subject of Book II. Another similar theme is the third movement fugue subject in the Concerto for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1061.

Bach's title suggests that he had written for a (12-note) well-tempered tuning system in which all keys sounded in tune (also known as "circular temperament"). The opposing system in Bach's day was meantone temperament in which keys with many accidentals sound out of tune. It is sometimes assumed that Bach intended equal temperament, the standard modern keyboard tuning which became popular after Bach's death, but modern scholars suggest instead a form of well temperament. There is debate whether Bach meant a range of similar temperaments, perhaps even altered slightly in practice from piece to piece, or a single specific "well-tempered" solution for all purposes.

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