Hi everyone,

I understand that I need to play quite fast for most Bach's Prelude and Fugue, but just how accurately fast should I play? I'm working on Bach's Prelude and Fugue in D minor BWV 875 (Book 2 no. 6) and apparently, there's no tempo marking indicated on the scores.

Should the tempo for both prelude and fugue be the same? Please advise again, many many thanks everyone!

I think the fugue is quite a bit slower , in any case its 4 in a bar instead of three..
On my recording the total timing is 3 mins 35 secs, but the prelude is taken pretty quickly.

See if you can get to hear Tatiana Nikolayeva playing this. (Doubt if I spelt that correctly!) She plays it at about the tempo that I played it at for a diploma. I have heard the Prelude played more slowly, but I think it loses its forward drive if it's too slow. My metronome is stuck down the back of the piano at the munute, and I don't want to guess at a specific tempo!

Thank you soooo much for your advice, fsharpminor! So, what was the tempo u had set for the metronome when u practised the prelude and fugue? Many thanks again for advising! =)

I'm away from home at the moment without access to a piano and metronome, so cant give you actual markings .....

4 mins later......

Ah just played on iTunes on my computer. The Prelude was 1min 25 secs, and the Fugue 2 mins 8 secs.
If you count the bars you can now work out the metronome marking !

Thank you soooo much for your advice, dulciana! So, what was the tempo u had set for the metronome when u practised the prelude and fugue? Many thanks again for advising! =) btw, did you play this piece for ATCL? in fact, i'm preparing for it. i've drafted the programme notes for this piece. not sure if i've written an appropriate one. would you mind giving some advice on it? enclosed is the draft. thanks sooooo much for taking the time to advise.

Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 875 (Book 2, no. 6)
The prelude is a didactic two-voice polyphonic piece of work. It is dazzlingly fast, powerful and tense throughout, capturing the audience right from the beginning. As for the fugue, though shorter, it is a three-voice chromatic study in contrasting rhythms, with alto entering first, then soprano and followed by bass. The piece is slightly slower than the prelude and has an ending of twos against threes, not commonly played during Bach's era.





Oh, thanks again for the duration of both pieces. will get the metronome and work out the tempo marking for it right after. thank you soooo much, fsharpminor!

It was ALCM I played it for - and thankfully, I didn't have to do programme notes! There is so much that could be said - what do you say and what do you leave out? I'm not sure about 'fast, powerful and intense', as that's sort of subjective! What about pointing out where the tension heightens, and point to how that is achieved through key changes, phrase lengthening and that sort of thing? (Or is that too detailed? Feel free to ignore me; I don't know the specific requirements for ATCL programme notes and may be thinking along the wrong lines entirely!)