Prelude in A minor
BWV 931 performed by Dymitr Szostak
Maltezerhuis, Utrecht
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
In father’s hands
A moving exercise prelude the size of a postage stamp
It’s quite endearing to imagine how father Bach taught composition to his young son Wilhelm Friedemann. You might picture them at the keyboard together patiently trying out one musical twist after another, by flickering candlelight (to make the image complete). Or else, probably more in line with reality, the extremely talented teenager would be trying to concentrate in a corner while the Bach household rushed around him. After all, when Bach was Thomaskantor in Leipzig, his house was far more than just a home. It was also where Johann Sebastian received his pupils and copied music for daily use along with his family and colleagues, as well as accommodating a flock of choirboys in the attic.
Wilhelm Friedemann’s exceptional gifts are apparent from the Clavier-Büchlein, the first notes of which were notated in 1720. The meticulously organised collection shows something of a ‘Bach method’: a series of pieces that increase in difficulty, intended to prepare students – and this one in particular – for the real work. Those who had developed a sound technique and insight into counterpoint could progress to the two-part Inventions and the Sinfonias, and so on.
Most of the short preludes in the Büchlein are still fairly tame, harmonically speaking (they were just finger exercises, after all), but BWV 931 stands out for its emotionally charged chromaticism (the use of notes that do not originate in the key of the piece – ed.). In just eight bars, a musical phrase unfolds that is full of expressive leaps and rhetorical gestures. This phrase could even have formed the beginning of a longer work, as the music sounds remarkably ‘mature’, with a rather open ending. Not bad for a ten-year-old (!): it is now believed that this was a composition exercise by Wilhelm Friedemann himself, which father Bach committed to paper.
Young talent
Once every two or three years, the Netherlands Bach Society organises a talent development project for gifted young musicians under the age of 18. The projects, which focus on the performance practice of Bach’s music, allows us to bring talented youngsters into contact with historical performance practice and give them deeper insight into Bach’s music. In this talent development project, we worked with keyboardists of the future. Seven very talented international youngsters between twelve and eighteen years old were selected from auditions to take two masterclasses about Bach, the harpsichord and baroque playing techniques and styles, given by Siebe Henstra. Each keyboardist rehearsed movements from the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, including the Nine Little Preludes, BWV 924-932, which Bach wrote to use in lessons with his son Wilhelm Friedemann. The rehearsed works were recorded for All of Bach in October 2024, at the Maltezerhuis in Utrecht.
- BWV
- 931
- Title
- Prelude in A minor
- Instrument
- harpsichord
- Genre
- harpsichord works
- Serie
- Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
- Reuse
- No. 8 of 9 Kleine Präludien
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 9 October 2025
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- Recording date
- 16 October 2024
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- Location
- Maltezerhuis, Utrecht
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- Harpsichord
- Dymitr Szostak
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- Instrument
- Titus Crijnen, 1992 after Johannes Ruckers, 1638
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- Director and camera
- Robin van Erven-Dorens
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- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee
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- Music recording, edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera
- Martijn van Beenen
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- Lights
- Ernst-Jan Thieme
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- Data handling
- Brechtje van Riel
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- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
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- Producer
- Lisanne Marlou de Kok
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