Monday, March 25, 2019

Little Prelude in C minor, arr. for guitar in D minor J.S. Bach: Harmonic Outline


It was originally composed for the lute-harpsichord (lautenwerck)  between 1717-
1723 and later adapted to other instruments including the lute of which a transcrip-
tion for guitar exists.

This piece of music is so interesting because it starts in D minor and ends on its
dominant in preparation for the next piece. This was a compositional device Bach
used frequently in his preludes (WTC Book 1 and 2) and chorales.

However, A minor appears to be the predominant key since it takes up a total of
nineteen consecutive bars giving way to A major briefly in measures 34-38 which
later comes back at the end of the prelude but now as the previously mentioned
dominant.

Note the presence of three pedal tones: the first is a tonic pedal (m.1-7), the second
is a V/V pedal tone (m.17-32), and the third is a dominant pedal tone of the home
key of D minor.

YouTube link: J.S.Bach Prelude in D minor