Prelude in C major, BWV 846
The Prelude in C major, BWV 846, opens Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. It is a Beginner piece (Octotune grade 4 of 8) built from one broken-chord pattern, played twice in every measure, so it is learned best as a sequence of chords.
At a glance
| Composer | Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Beginner: grade 4 of 8 |
| Key | C major (no sharps or flats) |
| Time | 4/4 |
| Tempo | 60 quarter-note beats a minute, as the app starts it (it can go slower) |
| Length | 35 measures, about 2:20 |
| Hands | both hands |
| Right hand | D3 to A5 |
| Left hand | C2 to E4 |
It reaches past the staff: see ledger lines explained.
Levels in the app
| Version | Grade | Levels |
|---|---|---|
| Prelude in C (Well-Tempered Clavier I), BWV 846 | 4 of 8 | Melody, Melody and bass, Full |
Practice notes
The Prelude in C major opens Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (1722). Every measure is a single chord, broken into the same pattern and played twice: the left hand plays the two lowest notes and holds them, and the right hand ripples the upper three.
Read it as chords, not notes. That is the whole secret. Once you see each measure as one chord shape, the page becomes a sequence of 35 shapes, and the fingers repeat the same motion in each.
What to watch
- Holding the left hand. The left hand's first note lasts the whole half measure, and its second note is held too. Keep them down while the right hand moves.
- Accidentals. The harmony travels. Sharps and flats appear in the middle measures (F sharp, B flat, A flat, C sharp and more) and they change from measure to measure.
- Evenness. Sixteenth notes from start to finish. Keep them level; let the harmony, not the fingers, make the music.
- The ending, over a long low G and then a low C, where the pattern changes.
Practice plan
- Block each measure: play all five notes of the measure together as one chord. Go through the whole piece like this, reading.
- Then the pattern, one measure at a time, hands together, slowly.
- Loop four measures at a time with the A–B loop, and join them.
Octotune's easier levels thin the pattern out, but this piece is best learned as written, slowly.
Before you start: both clefs, ledger lines round middle C (Octotune Unit 9) and chord shapes (Unit 11).
Questions
Is Bach's Prelude in C hard?
It is a Beginner-to-intermediate piece (Octotune grade 4 of 8). Every measure uses the same broken-chord pattern, so the challenge is reading the chords, holding the left-hand notes and keeping the sixteenths even.
Where is Bach's Prelude in C from?
It is the first prelude of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (1722), and is followed by a fugue in C major.
Credits and license
- Music: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Typeset by Tobias Erbsland for the Mutopia Project
- License: Public Domain
- Source and printable sheet music: the Mutopia Project’s page for this piece