Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, WTC II
About this arrangement
This is No. 14 in Book 2 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, compiled around 1742 in Leipzig. It is the only triple fugue in the volume. The subject has 15 notes built on leaps: a falling tonic arpeggio, then a leap of a sixth. A first countersubject appears early on and a second, in continuous sixteenth notes, follows it.
Learn the subject alone, then the first countersubject, then the sixteenth-note one, each hands separately. Loop the later passages where the subject sounds with both countersubjects at 50% and build up.
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 Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 883?
The prelude is moderate, but the fugue is advanced: three voices, two countersubjects and a long sixteenth-note line.
02 How long is BWV 883?
Our score has 113 bars in total: the prelude is 43 bars and the fugue is 70.
03 What should I practise first?
Play the prelude to hear the key and the three voices. Then learn the fugue subject and the first countersubject.
04 What makes this fugue special?
It has a subject and two countersubjects, and later in the fugue all three are combined. Wikipedia describes it as the only triple fugue in Book 2.