To this day, the fugues written by the great German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived from 1685 to 1750, stand at the pinnacle of this form, and remain a model for composers from around the world. J. S. Bach brought the art of fugue writing, with its imitative contrapuntal techniques, to an unsurpassed level. He wrote many fugues, and among them are the 48 Preludes and Fugues that comprise his Well-Tempered Clavier.
The Well-Tempered Clavier is divided into two volumes, and each volume has 24 Preludes and Fugues. The fugues from the well-tempered clavier are considered to be the teacher of fugues for composers the world over. I will play Bach’s Prelude and Fugue number nine in E major from Volume One of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
