The expression “well-tempered” refers to the equal temperament, of which Bach was so strong an advocate, and many of the pieces would be impossible with any other system of tuning. There is sufficient internal evidence to show that these delicate and beautiful compositions were primarily intended for the clavichord, as this instrument had a power of expression which was denied to all the other keyed instruments of that period. It is a mistake therefore to play them on the harpsichord, and Spitta is right in his assertion that they require for their adequate performance the very best pianoforte that the skill of modern makers can produce. The larger number of the pieces in the first collection were written at Cöthen, and probably quickly after one another. According to a tradition they were written on one of his journeys, when he had not access to an instrument. Schumann considered that many of the preludes were not originally connected with the fugues. Bach made three copies which still exist. He never had any intention of publishing a work which would scarcely meet with success among the general public from its difficulty. The second part was completed in 1740 or 1744. The only autograph is in the British Museum, add. MS. 35,021, of a page of which we give a photograph. It is written on large paper, fourteen staves to a page.
Gerber says that Bach valued the work highly for its educational value, and played it through no less than three times to him.
It was first printed by A. F. C. Kollmanns in London in 1799, but this impression was never published. The three first editions were those of Hoffmeister and Kühnel,[66] Simrock in Berlin, and Nägeli in Zurich, all in 1801. The first English edition was that of Wesley and Horn, 1811.
Various readings
That by Hoffmeister and Kühnel was edited by Forkel, who, selecting from a great number of copies, published many of the fugues in a shortened form, believing that these were Bach’s last arrangements of them. It is well known that Bach constantly polished and improved his works; and the number of different readings of the Wohltemperirte Clavier would fill a large volume. Amongst the more noticeable varieties of reading is that of the E minor prelude in Part I. In Litolff’s edition (Köhler) and Novello’s (Best) there is a florid melody in the right hand, above the chords, which accompany the moving bass. In Chrysander’s edition it is explained that Bach’s more mature taste led him to discard the florid passages, and it is accordingly published from a later MS. with only the chords on the first and third beats of the bar, the melody being entirely omitted.[67]
The “Art of Fugue” is a series of workings of a single subject in many different ways. Like the Wohltemperirte Clavier it was primarily intended for educational purposes. Forkel gives the following account of it:
Art of Fugue
“This excellent and unique work was not published till 1752, after the composer’s death, but was for the most part engraved during his life by one of his sons. Marpurg, at that time at the helm of musical literature in Germany, wrote a preface to the edition, in which much that is good and true is said concerning the work.