Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor
About this arrangement
It's No. 22 in Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, finished by 1722. The fugue is in five voices and is the closest of the Book 1 fugues to the old vocal style, ending with a stretto and a major chord.
In the fugue, practise pairs of voices first, since two hands have to hold five lines. Loop the final stretto slowly and listen for each entry of the subject with its wide leap of a ninth.
Start with short loops.
Use the section list as a practice map. Start at 50% tempo, loop one section, then return to the full piece once the hand shape feels stable.
Choose Right or Left to focus on one hand. Wait for note checks the highlighted notes as you play them on the screen or a connected MIDI keyboard.
Before you practice.
01 How hard is Bach's BWV 867?
It's advanced. The prelude is slow but needs careful voicing, and the fugue asks two hands to hold five independent voices with many tied notes.
02 How long is BWV 867 in this edition?
Our edition has 99 bars: 24 for the prelude and 75 for the fugue.
03 What should I practise first?
Start with the prelude at 50% tempo and bring out the top line over the chords. For the fugue, learn the subject on its own and find every entry before playing all five voices.
04 How many voices does the fugue have?
Five. Near the end the voices enter close together in a stretto, and the fugue finishes on a major chord.