Bach's preludes from WTC I & II question

[pianoplayjl]

Are his preludes polyphonic? Or at least partly polyphonic?

I know this is a dumb question but I have always been curious about the preludes. I've asked my sister and she doesn't know; her musical knowledge is not sufficient to analyse the preludes. I thought I saw a bit of imitation on some of his preludes and imitation is definitely a characteristic of cunterpoint/polyphony but I am still doubtful. So, are his preludes polyphic?

JL

[pianowolfi]

Some are more polyphonic, some are not so polyphonic. "Strict" polyphony goes for the fugues. But Bach was not so strict, after all, I think that some "experts" have found something like 153 parallel fifths in his work, if I remember correctly.

Some people consider Bach to be great because he was so "strict" at polyphony. Some others consider him to be great because he always violated the "rules of polyphony".

To me he was a good listener to inspiration and he never really ducked his head to any rules because he anyway knew the rules inside out and then decided to go a different path, his individual path.

[brogers70]

Sure, they are definitely polyphonic. Just from WTC I there are lots of examples, the most obvious being the Eb major prelude, which contains a double fugue. Even if you leave that aside, the E major Prelude is basically a three part invention, the A minor prelude a two part invention (with a few chords thrown in), likewise the G major prelude is basically a two part invention. The Bb minor prelude, even with its expressive, dark harmonies has 4 or 5 contrapuntal lines. So yes, they are contrapuntal. Even the most seemingly harmonic of the preludes, C major and C minor, for example, can be heard as having multiple independent lines, even if they are not notated that way.