Prelude & Fugue in G minor - The Well-Tempered Clavier - Johann Sebastian Bach | Piano Tutorial

The Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 861, is a keyboard composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the sixteenth 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 G minor (BWV 861) from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier balances lyricism with severity. The prelude flows with suspensions and gentle modulations, while the fugue builds intensity through its striking subject and tightly woven counterpoint. The Prelude opens in G minor with a calm, measured character. Its texture is shaped by suspensions and a chain of progressions that modulate upward by fourths, beginning in the fifth measure and leading briefly into C minor. Chromatic inflections enrich the harmonic palette, while trills add a sensual, almost vocal quality. The ending is especially drawn out: a trilled final note lingers in ambiguity, as if the music hesitates before closing, leaving the listener with a sense of doubt rather than resolution. The Fugue contrasts with a darker, more insistent tone. Written in four voices, it begins with a subject that steps briskly forward before leaping dramatically by a minor sixth — a gesture that defines its stern, admonishing character. The answer is tonal, adjusted slightly to preserve the harmonic stability of G minor. Episodes are generally concise, often built from the subject’s two-note motive or from inverted counter-themes. Bach explores mirrored counterpoint, flipping material between voices to generate new textures. Midway, a new episode figure alternates between treble and alto, injecting rhythmic energy. The fugue builds toward a stretto: though incomplete at first, all voices eventually participate in overlapping entries, intensifying the contrapuntal web until the close. Taken together, prelude and fugue embody contrast within unity: the prelude is lyrical, supple, and tinged with uncertainty, while the fugue sharpens that uncertainty into something stern and unrelenting. Bach here demonstrates how a single key, G minor, can sustain both tenderness and severity.