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... With little need for church music, Bach began to focus his time and attention on solo instrumental works as well as music for instrumental ensembles. The most important works Bach crafted while in Cöthen were the Brandenburg Concertos, the first volume of Das wohltemperirte Clavier (The Well Tempered Clavier), which we will focus on in this essay, the "French" and "English" Suites for harpsichord and several other instrumental sonatas and suites. ... The Well Tempered Clavier Book I was completed during his final years in Cöthen and early years in Leipzig. ... A secondary objective of the Well Tempered Clavier was to offer young musicians a systematic learning method that covered all the technical and compositional requirements of musicianship. ... The Well Tempered Clavier consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all twelve major and minor keys, 48 preludes and fugues in all. ... The Well Tempered Clavier is a work of musical art, of absolute virtuosity, and yet Bachs technical mastery is never allowed to draw attention to itself and detract from the pure dramatic or lyrical impact of the music. ... The fugue continues with statements of the subject and answer as well as modulatory passages called episodes. ...
As the churches in Bachs time were built in the symmetric form, the concept of symmetry, which originates in the cross of Christ, dominated the structure of the Well Tempered Clavier, penetrating deep into the constituting elements of music and the musical form itself. If we divide the Well Tempered Clavier I into two halves, we then notice that the concluding movement from each section is built around an identical compositional concept: in section 1 (no.
Approximate Word count = 1441
Approximate Pages = 5.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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