Well Tempered Clavier BWV 846-869 there a better reminder of
Bach as a teacher than the Well-tempered Clavier? This may be
Bach's best-known keyboard work. There are actually two complete
sets, book I and book II, each of which contains 24 preludes and
fugues, one for each key. The first set was written in 1722,
while Bach was in Weimar. (This is the work which will be
performed during the May 2001 festival.) The second book comes
from Leipzig in 1740. us, the Well-tempered Clavier is standard
fare. All pianists know at least some selections from this work.
But because none of us was born before 1722, we can't really
appreciate the importance of the work as a historical document.
The reason is because of the "well-tempered" part of the title.
Bach's day, there were two main conventions of tuning a
keyboard: mean-tone temperament or equal temperament. Both are
based on the alteration of acoustically pure intervals.
temperament was developed first (around 1500). In this system,
pure perfect fifths are made slig