Prelude & Fugue in F Sharp Major - The Well-Tempered Clavier - Johann Sebastian Bach | Piano Tutoria

The Prelude and Fugue in F Sharp Major, BWV 858, is a keyboard composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the thirteenth prelude and fugue in the first book of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues. The Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp major (BWV 858) from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier presents one of the most radiant and cheerful pairings of the cycle. The contrast between the prelude’s freedom and the fugue’s contrapuntal energy shows Bach at his most playful and inventive. The Prelude is a two-part invention of deceptive simplicity. Its texture sways gently, with the right hand spinning a meandering line grouped in threes. Often, the first note of each group is “missing,” leaving the left hand to supply what is absent and keep the melodic thread unbroken. At times, the bass takes on a more active role, offering quick outpourings that steer the line toward moments of repose. The result is a piece full of imaginative freedom, one that seems to wander at will, graceful and unforced, standing in deliberate contrast to the stricter design of the fugue. The Fugue bursts in with a lively subject, its robust opening followed by a bouncing continuation. The answer is tonal, slightly adjusted to preserve harmonic clarity. From the very first episode, Bach introduces a new florid figure — a rapid, tumbling motif — that quickly grows into a central feature of the fugue. This figure often appears alongside the subject and counter-subject, gradually expanding its role until it takes on independent importance. As the fugue unfolds, this episodic material becomes dominant, with the bass eventually seizing and developing it fully. By the later stages, references to the original subject become increasingly rare, as the new figuration drives the music forward with unstoppable energy. The texture feels like a lively ricochet between voices, cheerful in spirit yet firmly grounded in contrapuntal discipline.