Prelude and Fugue in C sharp Major,BWV 848, is a keyboard composition written byJohann Sebastian Bach. It is the thirdprelude and fugue in the first book ofThe Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer.

Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, BWV 848

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Theprelude is a lively 2-part texture, using a series ofbroken chords which swap between the hands. It is in a fast 3/8time signature and is made up largely ofsemiquavers. Later on in the piece, the semiquaver line splits between the hands before ending with a shortCoda in an improvisatory manner. Aprelude is a short, introductory piece. It is reinterpreted in track 4 ofCharles Mingus' 1972 albumLet My Children Hear Music.

The three-voice fugue is unusually void of the commonly used fugal devices, such asaugmentation,diminution,inversion,pedal point orstretti. The cheerful subject is characterised by descending broken 6ths in lightquavers. One of the countersubjects is constructed with running legato semiquavers, whilst the other consists of longer note values. The fugue has an extensive sequential episode which develops through related keys before the reappearance of the three voices.

• Bach Digital Work00990 atwww.bachdigital.de

• BWV 848Fugue (Flash) - David Korevaar performing
• BWV 846-869Prelude and Fugue (Flash) at theBinAural Collaborative Hypertext David Korevaar, Philip Goeth, and Edward Parmentier performing

• Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project