Is there an easy part of Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) for beginners?

Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–8 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because it carries accidentals outside the key and it runs fast figuration.

What key and time signature is Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) in?

Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) is in C minor, 3 flats. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.

What was the Well-Tempered Clavier written for?

Bach's title page says it was for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and for the pastime of those already skilled. Book I has 24 prelude-and-fugue pairs in all keys, compiled at Köthen with an autograph dated 1722.

How does the prelude end?

After the long run of sixteenth notes, a coda changes texture and tempo with an arpeggiated chord and rapid thirty-second notes, then finishes on a major chord (a Picardy third).

Is there a fugue to go with this prelude?

Yes. The prelude is followed by a three-voice fugue with a two-bar subject that enters first in the middle voice. It also ends on a Picardy third.

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Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

Key C minor
Time 4/4
Levels 7
Passages 3

Your turn · both hands

Preparing your passage…

Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 3 passages from this piece at level 7; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–8 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 7.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I).

Hands together · bars 1–8 level 7

How to play Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I)

Tempo:Choose a tempo at which the sixteenths stay perfectly even from start to finish. Bach gives few clues, so let your clearest, most relaxed speed decide, and remember that steadiness matters more than flash.
Right hand:Play the broken-chord figures with small, close finger motion and a quiet wrist. Keep the four notes of each group even, and shape the line over several beats rather than within each group.
Left hand:The left hand has running sixteenths too, not just a bass note. Practice it alone until it sounds as clear as the right hand and can lead the harmony.
Hands together:Join the hands in four-beat chunks, stopping on a downbeat. Listen for the harmony changing across the two hands and shape one long line through each change.
Fingering:Choose a fingering for each figure and use it every time. Because the pattern repeats, consistency builds speed far more than inventing a new fingering each pass.
Pedal:Use very little pedal; this is keyboard music from before the modern piano, and the running figures already sustain the harmony. Without pedal, evenness and clear fingers carry the sound.
Practice:Practice rhythmic variations (long-short, short-long), then stop-and-go at each beat. Slow practice with the metronome pays off more than fast runs.

Common mistakes

Rushing through the easy-looking opening and then stumbling at the key changes. Fix: Practice slowly through the middle first, marking every accidental.
Accenting the first note of every group so it sounds like a machine. Fix: Keep all sixteenths even and shape phrases with a gentle swell over longer stretches.
Using the pedal to hide uneven notes. Fix: Practice without pedal until the notes are clean on their own.
Changing fingering from run to run. Fix: Pencil in your fingering and follow it every time.

Structure: prelude (toccata-like perpetual motion with a coda)

The prelude is one continuous stream of sixteenth notes that outlines changing harmonies, with no repeated sections. After the long run, a short coda with a sudden change in tempo and texture brings the piece to a vivid close. The page's graded passages come from the running-sixteenth portion.

A · Opening run (C minor): Broken chords in running sixteenths establish C minor and the perpetual-motion pattern, shared between the hands.
B · Middle section: The harmony shifts through new keys while the sixteenth-note motion continues unchanged. This is where accidentals pile up, so read each beat as a chord.
Coda · Arpeggiated close (C minor, ending on a C major chord): A sudden change of texture and tempo: an arpeggiated chord, rapid thirty-second notes played twice, then sixteenths leading to the final major chord.

About Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I)

Bach compiled the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier at Köthen, and the autograph is dated 1722. He described it as being for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning. It contains 24 preludes and fugues that climb through every key, and the C minor pair comes second, right after the famous C major prelude.

The prelude is almost one continuous stream: running sixteenth notes outline broken chords in both hands, passing through changing harmonies and keys. Near the end a coda breaks the pattern with a sudden change of texture and tempo, an arpeggiated chord followed by a rush of thirty-second notes, heard twice, before plain sixteenths bring it to rest on a Picardy third, a major chord closing a minor-key piece.

A three-voice fugue follows the prelude in the book. The collection was long admired by other composers: Haydn and Mozart studied it closely as the Classical style matured, and Chopin, who had a copy with him on Majorca, built his own 24 Preludes as a complete cycle of keys in its image.

Stevie Wonder's song 'Pastime Paradise' reportedly bases its repeating chord progression on the opening of this prelude.
An earlier version of this prelude appears as Praeludium 2 in the Klavierbüchlein that Bach began for his son Wilhelm Friedemann in 1720.
Both the prelude and its fugue end on a Picardy third, a major chord closing a minor-key piece.
For much of the 20th century it was assumed that the 'well-tempered' of the title meant equal temperament, but that assumption is now questioned, and several unequal tunings have been proposed.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because it carries accidentals outside the key, it runs fast figuration.

Three graded passages here are all at level 7, in 4/4 with three flats and sixteenth notes. Chromatic spellings and quick patterns drive the level, and the closing coda is not among them.

Questions about Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I)

How hard is Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) to play?: Its passages grade from level 7 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 7.
Is there an easy part of Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) for beginners?: Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–8 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because it carries accidentals outside the key and it runs fast figuration.
What key and time signature is Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) in?: Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) is in C minor, 3 flats. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I)?: Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). Bach compiled the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier at Köthen, and the autograph is dated 1722.
Can I practice Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) online for free?: Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 3 graded passages from Prelude in C Minor, BWV 847 (Well-Tempered Clavier I) in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What was the Well-Tempered Clavier written for?: Bach's title page says it was for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and for the pastime of those already skilled. Book I has 24 prelude-and-fugue pairs in all keys, compiled at Köthen with an autograph dated 1722.
How does the prelude end?: After the long run of sixteenth notes, a coda changes texture and tempo with an arpeggiated chord and rapid thirty-second notes, then finishes on a major chord (a Picardy third).
Is there a fugue to go with this prelude?: Yes. The prelude is followed by a three-voice fugue with a two-bar subject that enters first in the middle voice. It also ends on a Picardy third.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 3 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7: bars 1–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 17–24 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (mutopia-ly), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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