Download the "full installer"
 Book I BWV 846-869
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Book II BWV 870-893
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Technical note:
The fugues of Book 1 (left column) have been migrated to Flash, and Book 2 is now in process. Most of the fugues of Book 2 continue to require the Shockwave plugin.
Fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier
Johann Sebastian Bach:
Forty-Four Fugues and Select Preludes
by Tim Smith and David Korevaar
2005 Macromedia Higher Education Innovation Gallery
Carnegie/Merlot Snapshot
|Translations|search site|
It seems as if the acorn knows its destiny and carries
within itself an active idea of the oak required of it.
Paul Claudel
On behalf of David Korevaar and myself (Tim Smith), welcome to this study of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. This project was begun over my sabbatical year of 2002-'03 and is ongoing. Dr. Korevaar's sensitive and dazzling interpretations have been its inspiration. Upon hearing his fugues, you'll want to enjoy his many more excellent recordings spanning a wide range of genres and composers. In addition to browsing the links to the left, you will enjoy reading Dr. Korevaar's comments on the performance of the WTC in Character and Counterpoint and my thoughts on teaching with Metaphor, Mystery, and the Music of Bach. Educators planning to use this material may wish to consult the Index of Contrapuntal Operations and Learning Objects. Many of the fugues are paired with quizzes where students may email feedback to instructors.
Selected resources for study of the Well-Tempered Clavier and J. S. Bach
- Complete score of the WTC at the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at Indiana University School of Music
- History of the WTC and primary sources for Book II by Dr. Yo Tomita at Queen's University, Belfast (Book I and Book II)
- David Ledbetter, Bach's Well-tempered Clavier: the 48 Preludes and Fugues, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)
Philip Goeth, J.S. Bach's Well-tempered Clavier, performance of book 1 on the organ, plus performance notes and analysis
Joseph Groocock (ed. Yo Tomita), Fugal Composition: A Guide to the Study of Bach's "48", (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003)
- William Renwick, Analyzing Fugue: A Schenkerian Approach, (Pendragon Press, 1995)
- Prout's Analysis of J.S. Bach's forty-eight fugues and mnemonics for the 48 subjects of the WTC.
- Bradley Lehman's work on Bach's graphic mnemonic for well-tempered intonation
- Aryeh Oron's very helpful Bach Cantatas Website
- Thomas Rossin, video on the discovery and significance of Bach's Bible
- Bach's Lutheranism, see Book of Concord
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