Fugue No. 12 in F minor, Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 857)

Johann Sebastian Bach · Level 6 (Expert) · Baroque · Piano

A four-voice fugue on a chromatic subject, solemn and dark, that runs through almost all twelve semitones. From the Well-Tempered Clavier, 48 preludes and fugues in every key, the pianist’s “Old Testament”. F minor, 4/4, 58 bars (about 4 minutes), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Find every entry of the subject and bring it out; the inner voices pass between the hands: decide who plays what before practising slowly. In a fugue, every entry of the subject must stand out; in a prelude, keep a perfectly steady pulse. Key signature with 4 flats: name them aloud before playing and spot the places where accidentals cancel them. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment.

More pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach

• Partita 4 (BWV 828) — movement 6
• Aus meines Herzens Grunde (Chorale 1) (BWV 269)
• Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C major (BWV 772)
• Prelude No. 1 in C major, Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 846)
• Two-Part Invention No. 13 in A minor (BWV 784)
• Two-Part Invention No. 8 in F major (BWV 779)
• Little Prelude in F major (BWV 928)
• Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D minor (BWV 775)

Source : Mutopia Project · CC BY-SA 4.0