J.S. Bach: Prelude in C Minor "pour le luth" BWV 999; David Tayler, archlute

• published: 04 Oct 2014
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The prelude in C Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed on the archlute by David Tayler. Bach's prelude BWV 999 features a dialogue of two textures. The more present texture, which consists of an endless arpeggio in the treble range, is accompanied by a flat-footed bass line that is almost invariably composed of two melodic skips downwards. The bass pattern is varied only once, in the thirty-third bar (Bach loved to construct pattern in threes), where the work stabilizes in G Major before the final coda. In the arpeggiated part, long lines of counterpoint are carefully woven into the chordal texture, also resolving in the thirty-third bar with the bass line. In the middle section of the work, the stepwise motion of the bass settles on a long pedal point on D which oscillates briefly with the E Flat a half step higher; the E Flat is the pivot point between the two keys of C Minor and G Major. To use Richard Crocker's term, the arpeggios "ruffle" the homohony, and Bach uses his genius to create a small gem of a prelude from the different textures and harmonies. The original manuscript for the prelude includes the rubric "pour le lute" (for the lute), and the work can be performed on different types of lutes or keyboards including the lute harpsichord, and sounds well on all of these. On the lute, the performer can use dynamics to accentuate some of the contrapuntal lines, but the work is equally persuasive on the keyboard. Pitch A=415; temperament: Neidhardt-Doodle Visit us on the web at http://voicesofmusic.org/ Archlute by Andreas von Holst