davidhertzberg | JS Bach / András Schiff, 1982: Four Duetti BWV 802-805 - Decca D275D 2 @davidhertzberg | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
More from Schiff:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gAgJIplj-mNYIYusXEtZ76UdVMe2G8l
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gAgJIplj-ksyosRdPE_-4FVlkp2oIbo
The four duetti BWV 802–805, in the successive tonalities of E minor, F major, G major and A minor, were included at a fairly late stage in 1739 in the engraved plates for Clavier-Übung III. Their purpose has remained a source of debate. Like the beginning prelude and fugue BWV 552 they are not explicitly mentioned on the title page and there is no explicit indication that they were intended for organ. However, as several commentators have noted, at a time when Bach was busy composing counterpoint for the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations (Clavier-Übung IV) using a very wide harpsichord range, Bach wrote the duets to lie comfortably in the range C to c″″′ in Helmholtz pitch notation (C2 to C6 in scientific pitch notation), so within the relatively narrow compass of almost every organ of the time. The pieces can nevertheless be played on any single keyboard, such as a harpsichord or fortepiano.
More from Schiff:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gAgJIplj-mNYIYusXEtZ76UdVMe2G8l
youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gAgJIplj-ksyosRdPE_-4FVlkp2oIbo
The four duetti BWV 802–805, in the successive tonalities of E minor, F major, G major and A minor, were included at a fairly late stage in 1739 in the engraved plates for Clavier-Übung III. Their purpose has remained a source of debate. Like the beginning prelude and fugue BWV 552 they are not explicitly mentioned on the title page and there is no explicit indication that they were intended for organ. However, as several commentators have noted, at a time when Bach was busy composing counterpoint for the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations (Clavier-Übung IV) using a very wide harpsichord range, Bach wrote the duets to lie comfortably in the range C to c″″′ in Helmholtz pitch notation (C2 to C6 in scientific pitch notation), so within the relatively narrow compass of almost every organ of the time. The pieces can nevertheless be played on any single keyboard, such as a harpsichord or fortepiano.
