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Arrangements & Transcriptions of Bach's Works
Arrangements & Works inspired by Well-Tempered Clavier BWV 847-869 & BWV 879-893 (WTC) |
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Contents |
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Introduction
Complete Sets of Preludes & Fugues
Complete Sets of Preludes (and other works)
Groups of Preludes & Fugues
Works in other Arts inspired by WTC |
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Introduction |
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J.S. Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier in all of the 24 major and minor keys (WTC; popularly known as the ‘48’) was clearly modelled on Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer's Ariadne musica, a set of 20 short preludes and fugues in a chromatic key order ascending from C to B. Bach adopted an identical overall plan, adding the five keys missing from J.C.F. Fischer's set, C-sharp major, D-sharp minor, (E-flat minor), F-sharp major, G-sharp minor (A-flat minor). Numerous thematic correspondences further attest to the importance of the older composer's example. Ariadne first appeared in 1702, but it seems likely that Bach knew it only from the 1715 reissue: preliminary work on Part 1 of the '48' was probably carried out during the period 1715-1720. J.S. Bach's two books of preludes and fugues - the WTC were completed in 1722 and 1744 respectively.
After J.S. Bach's death in 1750 the '48' continued to be studied by keyboard and composition students, particularly in central Germany. The partly subliminal influence of the work on J.S. Bach's sons should not be underestimated. But the decisivemoment in its posthumous history arrived when Mozart was introduced to it by Baron van Swieten in 1782. Thereafter it influenced the contrapuntal writing of countless composers (notable 20th-century examples being Paul Hindemith and Dmitri Shostakovich) and it has formed a fundamental part of the training of virtually every musician in keyboard playing, composition, analysis, and general musicianship.
Many composers have written a set of preludes & fugues in most or all of the 24 major and minor keys. The use of this format is generally inspired by J.S. Bach’s WTC. Below you will find a list of all known compositions of complete sets of preludes & fugues, most of them are natuarlluy for keyboard instrument. For the sake of completeness, I have also added a list of all known complete sets of preludes or other works. |
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Complete Sets of Preludes & Fugues |
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Composer |
Work |
Year |
Works
Recordings |
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Piano / Keyboard |
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Mark Alburger (b 1957)
12 Preludes & Fugues for keyboard (“Topical”), Op. 60 (1998). Works
24 Preludes & Fugues for keyboard ("Standards"), Op. 162 (2008). Works |
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Algernon Ashton (1859-1937)
24 Preludes & Fugues. Works |
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J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Well-tempered Clavier, Book 1: 24 Preludes & Fugues:, BWV 846-869 (1722). Details | Recordings
Well-tempered Clavier, Book 2: 24 Preludes & Fugues:, BWV 870-893 (1744). Details | Recordings |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919-2000) |
Det temperede klaver (The Tempered Piano), Vols 1-14 (each volume consisting of 48 preludes & fugues) |
1964-1996 |
Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 1, Op. 157
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen, 1966] |
1964 |
Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 2, Op. 379
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen] |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 3, Op. 400
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen] |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 4, Op. 409
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen] |
1978 |
Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 5, Op. 428
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen] |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 6, Op. 470
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen] |
1985 |
Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 7, Op. 530
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen, 1989] |
1988-1989 |
Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 8, Op. 532
[Edition Wilhelm Hansen] |
1989 |
Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 9, Op. 541 |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 10, Op. 542 |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 11, Op. 546 |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 12, Op. 554 |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 13, Op. 633 |
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Works |
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Niels Viggo Bentzon |
The Tempered Piano, Vol. 14, Op. 638 |
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Works |
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David Cope (b 1941) |
The Well-Tempered Disklavier, 48 preludes & fugues for keyboard |
1991 |
Works |
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Stéphane Delplace (b 1953) |
Préludes & Fugues dans les Trente Tonalités - Livre I |
1994 |
Works |
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Stéphane Delplace |
Préludes & Fugues dans les Trente Tonalités - Livre II |
2008 |
Works |
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David Diamond (1915-2005) |
52 Preludes & Fugues, for piano |
1939-1940 |
Works |
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Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656-1746) |
Ariadne musica Neo-organoedum, for keyboard/pipe organ (The 1st part contains 20 preludes & fugues in 19 different keys and one in the Phrygian mode based on E. It is considered a significant precursor to J.S. Bach's WTC. Bach held Fischer's work in high regard) |
1702 |
<<< |
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Michelle Gorrell |
Well-tempered licks & grooves : 24 preludes & fugues for piano in jazz styles in two volumes. Book 1
[London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2010] |
2010 |
Works |
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Hiroshi Hara (1933-2002) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano |
1981 |
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Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) |
Ludus Tonalis for piano: a prelude, 11 interludes, and a postlude, all separated by 12 fugues. |
1940 |
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Hans Huber (1852-1921) |
24 Preludes & Fugues in all keys for piano four hands, Op. 100 |
(early 20th c.) |
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Alexander Iakovtchouk (b 1952) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano |
1983 |
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Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1902) |
18 Preludes & Fugues for piano, Op. 56 |
1879 |
Works- |
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David Johnson (b 1942) |
12 Preludes & Fugues for piano |
1996 |
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Nikolai Kapustin (b 1937) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano, Op. 82 |
1997 |
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August Alexander Klengel (1784-1852) |
48 Canons & Fugues 48 for the piano in all ofthe major & minor keys |
1855 |
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Craig Sellar Lang (1891-1971) |
A miniature 48; two books of short preludes & fugues in all keys. Op. 64, for piano solo
[London: Augener, 1953] |
1949 |
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Trygve Madsen (b 1940) |
24 Preludes & Fugues, for piano, Op. 101 |
1995-1996 |
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Henry Martin (b 1950) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano
[Margun Music] |
1990-2000 |
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Bruce Cameron Munson (b 1960) |
24 Tonal Preludes & Fugues for piano |
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Georgy Mushel (1909-1989) |
Dvadtsat' chetyre Prelyudii i fugi dlya fortepiano (24 Preludes & Fugues, for piano) |
1975 |
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Frank Tveor Nordensten (b 1955) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano |
1994 |
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Pavel Zemek Novak (b 1957) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano |
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Rodion Shchedrin (b 1932) |
24 Preludes & Fugues, for piano
Book I “sharp keys”, Op. 29
Book II “flat keys”, Op 45
[Sikorski, Hamburg]
[Russian State Music, 1975] |
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1964
1970 |
Works
Recordings |
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Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) |
24 Preludes & Fugues for piano, Op. 87 |
1950-1951 |
Works
Recordings |
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Sergei Slonimsky (b 1932) |
24 Preludes & Fugues, for piano |
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Bernhard Christian Weber (1712-1758) |
The Well-Tempered Clavier: 24 preludes & fugues in all the keys, for organ/keyboard
[Breitkopf & Härtel, 1933] |
1743 |
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Ron Weidberg (b 1953) |
Voyage to the end of the millenium: 24 preludes & fugues for piano
[Tel-Aviv: Israeli Music Center, 1999] |
1999 |
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Julius Weismann (1879-1950) |
Der Fugenbaum (Fugue Tree), Op. 150 (24 preludes & fugues in all the keys). |
1946 |
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Organ |
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Richard White |
24 Preludes and Fugues for organ |
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Guitar |
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Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) |
Les guitares bien tempérées: 24 préludes et fugues pour 2 guitares, Op. 199
[Bruzzichelli, c1974] |
1974 |
Works |
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Igor Rekhin: |
24 Preludes and Fugues for guitar solo |
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Complete Sets of Preludes (and other works) |
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Composer |
Work |
Year |
Works
Recordings |
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Piano / Keboard |
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Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) |
25 Preludes for piano, Op. 31 |
1847 |
Works-
Recordings- |
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Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) |
12 Etudes in all the major keys for piano, Op.35
12 Eatudes in all the minor keys for piano, Op.39 |
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Works-
Recordings |
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Algernon Ashton (1859-1937) |
'cycle' of 24 piano sonatas, covering the entire key scheme |
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Lera Auerbach (b 1973) |
24 Preludes for Piano, Op.41 |
1999 |
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Ludwig van. Beethoven (1770-1827) |
2 sets of preludes, Op. 39; each one cycles through all of the major keys of the piano |
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Felix Blumenfeld (1863-1931) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 17
[Leipzig: M.P. Belaïeff, 1892] |
1892 |
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York Bowen (1884-1961) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 102 |
1950 |
Works- |
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Abram Chasins (1903-1987) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 12
[Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1928] |
1928 |
Works- |
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Charles Chaulieu (1788-1849) |
24 petits préludes: dans les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 9, for piano
[Paris: Lemoine, c1820] |
1820 |
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Charles Chaulieu (1788-1849) |
Eighteen nouveaux et petits préludes pour le piano, oú l'on a employé tous les signes usités en musique pour les mouvemens et les nuances, Op. 99
[London : Published by R. Cocks & Co., 1825] |
1825 |
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Erik Chisholm |
24 Preludes from the True Edge of the Great World |
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Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 28 |
1835-1839 |
Works |
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Sarah Jane Cion (b 1967) |
Lara’s Lullabies, 17 individual ballads for piano |
2012 |
Works |
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Giuseppe Concone (1801-1861) |
24 Brilliant Preludes for piano, Op. 37 |
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Edward Cowie (b 1943)
24 Preludes for piano (2005-2007) |
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Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858) |
Pensière musicale 24 preludes melodiques, ou, cadences, improvisations, et caprices pour le piano, Op. 91
[London: Cramer, Addison, et Beale] |
1842 |
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César Cui (1835-1918) |
24 Preludes for piano |
1903 |
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Geoffrey Cummings-Knight |
24 Preludes for piano
[Aylesbury, England: Roberton Publications ; Bryn Mawr, Pa. : USA and Canada, T. Presser, 1987] |
1987 |
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Carl Czerny (1791-1857) |
24 Preludes for piano |
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Works- |
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Claude Debussy (1862-1918) |
24 Preludes for piano:
Book 1: 12 Preludes
Book 2: 12 Preludes |
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1910
1913 |
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Hans Gál (1890-1987) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 83
[London: Universal Edition, 1965] |
1959-1960 |
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Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (1875-1956) |
24 Preludes for piano |
1907 |
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Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) |
12 American Preludes (Doce Preludios Americanos) |
1944 |
Works |
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Boris Goltz (1913-1942) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 83 |
1934 |
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Stephen Heller (1814-1868) |
24 Preludes, Op. 81
[Breitkopf & Härtel] |
1853 |
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Stephen Heller (1814-1868) |
24 Piano Studies doe Rhythm and Expression, Op. 125 |
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Henri Herz (1803-1888) |
24 Exercices et préludes pour piano: dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 21 |
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Joseph William Holder (1764-1832) |
28 Preludes for piano, composed expressely for the publishers, with additions by C. Chaulieu
[London: D'Almaine & Co., 1848] |
1848 |
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Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 67 |
1815 |
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Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 38 |
1943 |
Works-
Recordings- |
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Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1785-1849) |
24 Preludes for piano |
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Kara Karayev (1918-1982): |
24 Preludes for piano |
1951-1961 |
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Nikolai Kapustin (b 1937) |
24 Preludes in Jazz Style for piano, Op. 53 |
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Joseph Christoph Kessler (1800-1872) |
24 Études for piano, Op. 20 |
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Franz Liszt (1811-1886) |
12 Etudes (only halfway round the key cycle, and were finished off much later as an act of homage by Liapunov) |
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Works-
Recordings- |
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John McLeod |
12 Preludes for piano |
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Walter Niemann (1876-1953) |
24 Preludes |
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Works- |
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Selim Palmgren (1878-1951) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 17 |
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Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) |
24 Preludes for piano:
Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2
10 Preludes, Op. 23
13 Preludes, Op. 32 |
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1892
1903
1910 |
Works-
Recordings- |
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Johann Christian Schickhardt (1682-1762) |
Alphabet de la Musique, Op.30: 24 sonatas in all the keys for flute, violin or recorder. |
1735 |
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Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 11 |
1896 |
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Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 34 |
1933 |
Works-
Recordings- |
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Rodion Shchedrin (b 1932) |
Polyphonic Notebook, 25 Polyphonic Preludes for piano, Op. 50
[Hamburg: Sikorski; Edition number: SIK2206]
[Moscow: Sovetskij kompozitor, 1974]
[Mainz: Schott Music & Media, 2007] |
1972 |
Works
Recordings |
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Konstantin Sorokin (1908-1981) |
24 Preludes for piano (written for childre) |
1975 |
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Charles Villiers Stanford: (1852-1924) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 163 |
1918 |
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Charles Villiers Stanford: (1852-1924) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 179 |
1921 |
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Yevgeny Svetlanov |
12 Preludes for piano
[Moscow: Muzyka, 1986] |
1986 |
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Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977) |
12 Preludes for piano, Op. 8
[Edward B. Marks Music Corp., New York, 1956]
[Frankfurt : Belaieff, 1972] |
1952-1953 |
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Sulkhan Tsintsadze (1925-1991) |
24 Preludes for piano |
1971 |
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August Winding (1835-1899) |
24 Preludes |
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Works- |
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John R Williamson (b 1940) |
12 New Preludes (1993)
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 1 (1996)
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 2 ()
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 3 ()
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 4 ()
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 5 (2000)
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 6 ()
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 7 ()
12 Palindromic Preludes Set 8 () |
1993
1996
2000 |
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Edward Wolff |
24 Études en forme de Preludes |
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Valery Zhelobinsky (1913-1946) |
24 Preludes for piano, Op. 20 |
1934 |
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Lute/Guitar |
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Adam Falkenhagen (1697-1754) |
Preludio nel quale sono contenuti tutti i tuoni musicali, for lute (Prelude which contains all the musical tones) |
2nd half of 18th c. |
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Vincenzo Galilei (c1520-1591) |
Ricercare Per Liuto Dal "Fronimo"
[Milan: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, 1970; edited by Orlando Chritoforetti]
24 Ricercare "per b molle" and "per b durum" arranged for modern guitar by Orlando Chritoforetti
[ Also see Galilei, Vincenzo (transl. Carol MacClintock). Fronimo: 1584. [S.l.]: American Institute of Musicology, 1985] |
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Jacomo Gorzanis (1520/1525-1575/1579) |
Die Pass' e mezzi und Saltarelli aus der Münchner Lautenhandschrift von Jacomo Gorzanis: (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mus. Mss. 151la)
[Tutzing: Schneider, 1979; edited by Issam El-Mallah].
24 Passamezzos modernos (“major”) and anticos (“minor”) with saltarellos |
1567 |
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Manuel Ponce (1882-1948) |
24 Preludes for Guitar |
1929 |
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Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750) |
Prelude which contains all the musical tones, for lute [now lost] |
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John Wilson |
Thirty Preludes in All (24) Keys for Lute: Facsimile and Transcription of the Manuscript
[Oxford, Bodleian Library Mus. B 1; Utrecht: The Diapason Press, 1992; edited by Matthew Spring] |
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Various Instrumentaions |
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Algernon Ashton (1859-1937) |
'cycle' of 24 string quartets, covering the entire key scheme |
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Lera Auerbach (b 1973) |
24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, Op.46 |
1999 |
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Lera Auerbach (b 1973) |
24 Preludes for Cello and Piano, Op.47 |
1999 |
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Groups of Preludes & Fugues (not complete sets) |
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Composer |
Work |
Year |
Works
Recordings |
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Piano / Keyboard |
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Richard C. Bellak |
Fugal Dreams: Jazz Preludes and Fugues for Piano |
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Antonio De Cabezon |
Tientos and Fugues for Solo Piano. |
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George Chadwick |
3 Preludes and Fugues for Keyboard (1928). |
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Antonin Dvorak |
8 Preludes and Fugues |
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George Enescu |
Preludes and Fugues (1903) |
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Wesley Octavius Forsyth |
Keyboard Preludes and Fugues |
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Mark Goddard |
Bach buster fugues. Book 2: beautiful music revitalised from dark corners of J.S. Bach's 48 preludes & fugues book 2 (4 fugues from the 2nd book of 'Das Wohltemperierte Klavier' in simplified piano versions)
[Laggan Bridge: Spartan Press, 2011] |
2011 |
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Christophe Guyard |
7 Preludes & Fugues for piano, Op. 47. |
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Dmitri Kabalevsky |
6 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 61. |
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Juris Karlsons |
Preludes and Fugues for 2 Pianos. |
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Leslie Mann |
2 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 29 (1972) |
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Felix Mendelsohn |
6 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 35 (1832-1837) |
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Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz |
3 Little Preludes and Fugues (1995) |
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Flor Peeters |
3 Preludes and Fugues (1950) |
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Max Reger |
6 Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op. 99 |
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Anton Rubinstein |
6 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op.53 |
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Clara Schumann |
3 Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op. 16 (1845) |
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Harold Truscott |
2 Preludes and Fugues for piano (1957) |
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Soulima Stravinsky |
3 Preludes and Fugues for piano "In Memorium Igor Stravinsky". |
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Organ |
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Camille Saint-Saëns |
3 Preludes and Fugues for organ, Op 99 & Op 109 |
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Arthur Wills: |
Preludes and Fugues for organ |
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Guitar |
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Gilbert Biberian |
6 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Guitar |
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Various Instrumentations |
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Sources: |
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Dean's Den: Fugues and Fugue Sets
Prelude and fugue (Wikipedia)
List of fugues and fugal compositions by composers lived in the XIX century (Kunst der Fuge)
Preludes in all the keys (Discussion in Uunsung Composers)
Malcolm Boyd (Editor): Oxford Composer Companion - J.S. Bach (Oxford University Press, 1999), pp 515-518 |
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Works in other Arts inspired by WTC |
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Artist |
Work |
Year |
Page |
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C.W. Hansen |
Fugue #1, Well Tempered Clavier |
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Art-1736 |
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Elizabeth Harington |
Etchings on J.S. Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 858-868) |
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Elizabeth Harington |
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Christopher Hogue |
Triptych: Three preludes and fugues from Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I” |
2007 |
Memo-2498 |
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Theo Radic |
Series based on Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier |
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Theo Radic |
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Prepared by Aryeh Oron (September 2011 - June 2022)
Thanks to contributors: Arthur Ness (September 2011) |
