i've got lots of questions about these 2 pieces:

1. how fast is the prelude because i've heard recording and they're quite slow?
2. How much staccato should i use in the prel?
3. I'm also puzzling over the mordent in bar 45 of the prelude
4. are the prelude and fugue above grade 5 because my teacher told me choose something over grade 5?

1) How fast?

The answer is - quite slow, just like the recordings suggest.

2) How much stacc.?

Matter of interpretation. I'd keep the right hand legato throughout. As for the left, other than when it has semiquaver sections (e.g. bar 32 or suchlike) or overlapping counterpoint (e.g. bars 20-24), try to imitate the style of a viola de gamba - an ancestor of the 'cello. When there are big leaps, put a slight gap between notes, as string-crossing on a viola de gamba necessarily introduces discontinuity. This is only a heuristic, however - your ears and sense of style should be the guide.

3) Mordent in bar 45

Play like the mordent in bar 1.

4) Harder than grade 5

Just a bit....

ok thanks for the info, its helped alot

No 12 from book 1 is listed for DipABRSM. Don't let it put you off, as yours seems to be book 2. However, few if any of TWTC are ever listed below grade 8.

This must be the F Minor. The Prelude is actually one of the easier ones (about Grade 6) provided you sort out the mordents, but the fugue is certainly Grade 8 .
My favourite in Book 2 is No 14 in F sharp Minor.

Ahhh, that one! Don't know where my brain went there, I've know this one for years: Lot's of jazzy fun if played ad lib in 5/8!! Jacques Lousier eat your heart out (or not as the case may be).

I am in the process of memorizing this piece right now. I find Bach by far the most dificult keyboard composer to memorize. (Compared to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Prokofiev ...) . Pieces by these other composers have very strong physical signatures that somehow get embedded in your hands. That doesn't happen to the same extent with Bach. Does anyone find that - or is it just me?



Tempo: Fast enough for the listener to follow the musical lines without straining his musical memory. Slow enough to sound unhurried. Prelude - crotchet = 50 or thereabouts. i.e. nowhere near so slow as Glenn Gould's awful choice of tempo in his otherwise brilliant recordings of the WTC. Fugue a little more brisk - crotchet = 60 or thereabouts. But it should never sound rushed or uncontrolled.

Staccato: Unlike much of Bach's countepoint, this piece needs none.

Mordent at bar 45: What is a mordent?

(Seriously, my edition is sprinkled with trills and mordents, but there is none at bar 45. As it is a slow piece the mordents also sound good as shakes. There is no hard and fast rule about starting on the upper or lower note. It depends on the direction they are approached from, and where they are going to finish. e.g. You would not descend from E flat to play a shake on D flat starting on the upper note. The consecutive E flats sound contrived and ugly. You'd start on the principal - whatever the pedants might say about the style of the period.)

Difficulty: Not very difficult. The prelude is about Grade 6. It is listed for the diploma, but I think that means that a high standard of performance is expected in the fugue. But because of the relatively slow tempo the fugue is not hard to play either, once your fingers know the notes. I'd have rated it Grade 8.

Hi Tom: I thought you were doing the one from book 1: He's doing the one from book 2 (the one where I do the opening theme in 5 time)

Whoops. Sorry. I was talking about Book 1 No. 12. I have only studied Book 1. But I must learn Book 2 No. 12 someday, or at least the fantastic Prelude. It might make a good pop song

This prelude and fugue are on the Trinity (if im allowed to mention that here ) grade 8 syllabus for this year.

Yes, you are allowed to.