Prelude No. 18 in G♯ minor, Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 863)

Johann Sebastian Bach · Level 5 (Advanced) · Baroque · Piano

A lyrical, chromatic three-voice prelude in 6/8, written like a sinfonia in which each voice sings in turn. From the Well-Tempered Clavier (Book I, 1722), preludes and fugues in all twenty-four keys. G♯ minor, 6/8, 29 bars (about one minute), 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.
• Five sharps and many double sharps: read slowly, naming the accidentals, then practise the voices two by two. Key signature with 5 sharps: name them aloud before playing and spot the places where accidentals cancel them. In 6/8, count the beats as groups of three eighths (dotted beats) to keep the lilt. 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 : PDMX / MuseScore · CC0 1.0