Fugue in C major, BWV 846, WTC Book I No. 1

Instrumentation

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Musical Terms (4)

• Affekt German
  The emotional or expressive content of a piece or movement — the primary feeling the music is designed to convey, according to Baroque doctrine.
  Bach's fugue subjects, dance movements, and chorale preludes each embody a specific Affekt. Identifying it — grief, joy, grandeur, agitation — is the first interpretive act. The entire movement should emanate from that single affect.
• Clavierubung German
  Keyboard practice — the title Bach gave to four volumes of keyboard music, representing the most demanding and comprehensive keyboard writing of the Baroque era.
  Clavierübung I (Partitas), II (French Overture and Italian Concerto), III (Organ pieces and keyboard music), IV (Goldberg Variations). Understanding which volume a work belongs to helps situate its character and purpose.
• ornament table German
  Bach's systematic table of ornament realisations from the Notebook for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, explaining how each symbol should be played.
  The primary reference for realising Bach's ornaments. Upper auxiliary start, on the beat, and appropriate speed for the context are the core principles. The table shows the written notation and its realisation for each ornament type.
• two-voice texture English
  Bach's characteristic polyphonic writing in which two independent melodic lines are combined, each with its own direction, rhythm, and expressive character.
  The Two-Part Inventions are the pedagogical foundation. Each voice must be heard as a distinct melodic strand with its own phrasing and shape — not as treble and bass but as two equal voices in dialogue.