Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999, also termed The "Little" Prelude in C Minor, is a piece written by Johann Sebastian Bach sometime between 1717 and 1723. Though originally composed for Lute-Harpsichord it has since been adapted for various instruments, including lute, piano and guitar. It is a pedagogical work much in the spirit of The Well-Tempered Clavier, with which it shares musical characteristics. The piece's true authorship fell into question for decades before being proven to be Bach's by publication of Hans Neemann’s J. S. Bach Lautenkompositionen.
History
The piece's exact year of creation is the subject of extensive speculation. The Oxford Dictionary of Music cites the prelude's similarity to the Well-Tempered Clavier, stating, "c minor bwv999 shows an affinity with the ‘48’, and may thus belong to the Cöthen or early Leipzig period". However, indirect sources, such as IMSLP and Classical Music Archives, place its origin at 1725 and 1720, respectively. These estimates also conflict with the more direct motival parallels between BWV 999 and Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846, which Bach penned in 1722. As Bach left Weimar to become Kapellmeister at Cöthen in 1717, and departed Cöthen to take his position as cantor and music director in Leipzig in 1723, the uncertainty of dates can place it in any one of three locations within Bach's compositional timeline. Initially, analysts were unsure as to whether the prelude was actually composed by Bach, since the only original source discovered was a copy by one of Bach's pupils, Johann Peter Kellner. Analysis contained within Neemann’s J. S. Bach Lautenkompositionen later confirmed the authorship.
Prelude genre
BWV 999's brief, introductory nature, improvisatory feel and reiteration of a defining motiffits squarely within the prelude genre of the 1710s and 1720s. Additionally, the shortness of the motif itself follows the conventions of early sixteenth-century prelude. It also served a teaching purpose characteristic of the genre, widely using arpeggiations and technical demands that served students well as an étude. Barbara Russano Hanning describes prelude features and goals: "The typical prelude assigns the player a specific task, so that the piece functions as an etude. In addition, the preludes illustrate different types of keyboard performance conventions and compositional practices." Such pedagogical traits contribute to the work's longevity; it is still an oft-used educational tool.
Musical characteristics
Motif
Prelude in C Minor is set in time. Its central motif consists of intersecting rhythms between the upper and lower voice. In the right hand, this is a sixteenth rest, followed by a seven-note sixteenth passage that typically arpeggiates an inversion of a triad, and an alternating sixteenth rest–sixteenth note pattern in the third beat. The left participates by having a pedal tone quarter in the first beat, a rest, then two eighth notes.
