Playing Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) has such an standing place less of genre he ¢ impor es ever 1 hve lived. He perfected Baroque music both in his voeal and instru mental works, as well as in his sacred and his secul ns. Aside fro opera, Bach was at home in enres of the period: his keyboard compo- sitions hold a particularly important place within his instrumental works. A [though Bach eame from a family that had been musically active for several generations, he never received any regular tuition, Yet what his ancestors had in a sense done as. eraft, Bach succeeded in developing e of mastery tha 10. 7) to the great mature works (nos. 13416). We ean indeed assume that Bach was quite aware of the exeeptional quality of his works. This is backed up by the great number of works he wrote, in- tending as it were to present a compendium of each genre and demonstrate his skill, such as for example the Musikalisches Opfer (\ Musical Offering), the Kunst der Fuge (Art of the Fugue) or the Wohltemperiertes Klavier (Well“Tempered Clavier). Yet he did not s these works in any way as being “Part pour Part”, thus art for art's sake, but rather he also sought a fitting and sensorial realization of his works. It was not by chance that a great many of the titles that he came up with for his keyboard works contained the note that they were “composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits”. Atthe same time many pices also Fulfil a pedagogical purpose, not only with regard to th ecution on the instrument (see nos. 1-3) but also with Bach wanted, for ex- ample, the Inventions and Sinfonias (see nos. 5/6 and 9/10) to be seen as an “Hon foretaste of composition”. According to the preface in the autograph of part I of the Wohltemperiertes Klavier rl to composition i Method to get a strong ho said that he had drawn it up and written it for the eof musical youth who are to learn “profit and u i the pastime of those alteady skilled i as well as, ly Already in the early 19% ntury attempts were made to collect and systematically order the extensive body of Bach’s compositions in # eatalogue of works. But it was only in 1950 that Wolfgang Schmieder was able to present a catalogue — the Bach-Herke-Verzeichnis (BWV) that became the internationally accepted stand- ard work and whose numbering system (from BWV 1 tol Schmieder's eatalogue gro genre, beginning with the yoeal works, As far as the instrumental works are concerned, the ones for key- ) is still in use today for the individual works, ps the works according to board follow those for ongan and bear the numbers from BWV 772 10 BWV 994. that of the few works that he high regard in which Rach held his keyboard ular is shown by the fact iad printed, they were almost exelusively for keyboard. In so doing he wanted to establish his reputation as a virtuoso harpsichordist and organist, even if at the time printed music could only reach a smaller circle of specialists, There has b a great deal of speculation regard e question of the instr «lin mind, His biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel claimed that Bach preferred playing on the small, single-manual elavichord than on the double-manual harpsichord, considering itt be too soulless, a clair that is considered to be reliable today. In faet, Bach probably chose the instru- ment according to the work and the ci question, He m invented fortepiano in 1720, which allowed the player ule the dynamies more easily (thus its name). Yet wechanism had not been perfected at the time so toa th considered it to be “too msy”. In view of the enormous te eal develop- ments of the piano as reg adays it is completely acceptable to also play Bach’s keyboard works on a modern piano. js action and register, now-Trillo * Mordant ‘Trillo und Mordant Cadence Doppelt-Cadence fide Doppelt-Cadence sand Mordant Accent steigend Accent fallend ‘Accent und Mordant Accent und illo idem etexecution of the ornaments, whieh ave an integzal part of the inclivi- dual pieces, is of great importance for Bach's rd music. Bach ineluded the above table in his Clavierbiichlein cor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (Little Clavier Book for Wilhelin Friedemann Bach). In it he explains the most important signs. As faras the “Accent” is concerned, the player might occasionally also come across the markings o (rising) and ¢ (falling).