Public-domain song
Prelude in C minor (The Well-Tempered Clavier I)
- Key signature
- 3 flats: E♭, A♭, B♭
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Origin
- The Prelude in C minor from book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 847, written in 1722; first printed in 1801.
Public domain: by Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in 1750; first published in 1801.
Parts 1 and 2 are written out note by note as a melody only: no lyrics and no accompaniment.
The three parts
Part 1
The phrase people know, short enough to learn in a sitting.
- Length
- 4 bars, 64 notes
- Tempo
- ♩ = 52
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Range
- C4 to C5
- Note values
- sixteenth notes
Part 2: the complete song
The whole tune: its melody once through to its end, without the repeats a performance would add.
- Length
- 12 bars, 192 notes
- Tempo
- ♩ = 56
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Range
- C4 to E♭5
- Note values
- sixteenth notes
Part 3: the whole piece
The whole piece as the composer wrote it: every hand or voice, from a public-domain score, in sections you can practise.
- Length
- 38 bars, 1091 notes
- Duration
- 1:50
- Tempo
- ♩ = 80
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Range
- C2 to A♭5
- Practice sections
- Broken-chord figures, Rising over a G pedal, One line across both hands, Presto, Adagio, Allegro: the closing pedal on C
Source and licence
Johann Sebastian Bach. Our own transcription from the public-domain source edition: Bach-Gesellschaft (Breitkopf & Härtel), Leipzig, 1866. Also consulted: Mutopia Project #550 (Davide Castellone) (public-domain dedication).
Source edition: Bach-Gesellschaft (Breitkopf & Härtel), Leipzig, 1866
Lessons that use this song
No lesson links this song yet. Play it on its own in Play Along.