Prelude No. 15 in G major, Well-Tempered Clavier II (BWV 884)

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

A bright, cheerful two-part prelude in 3/4, in two repeated halves, carried by a steady flow of sixteenth notes. From Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier (around 1740), a second cycle of preludes and fugues in all twenty-four keys. G major, 3/4, 48 bars (about 2 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.
  • Practise each hand alone until you can sing it, then put them together slowly in Wait mode; the edition’s ornaments are not written here. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment. Start hands separately in Wait mode, then put hands together at a slow tempo before speeding up gradually.

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Source : Knute Snortum (gravure LilyPond, GitHub) · CC BY-SA 4.0