The Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor,
BWV 867, is a keyboard composition by
Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the 22nd prelude and fugue in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer. It was composed in 1722 or earlier.[1]
The prelude is in the style of an
arioso, with up to seven nominal voices manifesting in only three distinct strands. The prelude's structure is bipartite, divided in half by a
cadence. British music critic
John Alexander Fuller Maitland compared it with the St Matthew Passion.[2]
Below are the opening bars of the prelude:
Fugue
Among the fugues in The Well-Tempered Clavier's first book, BWV 867's fugue is the closest to stile antico. The fugue is in five voices, and its
subject stands out for its use of a wide minor
ninth interval[3] and "rhetorical" pause. Instead of substantial
episodes, there are only two
canonic bridges. The fugue climaxes in a five-part
stretto before ending on a
Picardy third.[4]
Below are the first two statements of the subject in the fugue's opening: