Bach's Fugue no.1

[kghayesh]

I was supposed to take part in a piano competition, and i was so ready for it but the problem is that one of the requirements was to play a prelude and fugue from bach's WTC. My teacher chose for me P&F no.1 in C (and i really don't know why especially that). Anyway, i finished and mastered the Prelude (Ave Maria theme) and i found it so easy that i thought the fugue will be the same level. So, i postponed working on the fugue for some time.
When i started to play the fugue, i was shocked... The score was written on top of it (a 4 voci) which means that there were 4 different melodic sequences that were written in the score. I started to play it slowly from sight, but unfortunately i am not a good sight reader, so i decided to learn it by memorizing it bar by bar..  It was so hard and i was moving so slow (about half a bar per day) until my teacher and me figured out that i will not catch this competition and that i needed at least another week to finish this ****ing fugue.
So, i decided to quit the competition, waiting for another chance to come by.
What i want to ask is, how can i learn this piece???
I am sure many people here can help me...

[sharon_f]

The C major fugue is one of the more difficult fugues in WTC I, even though its prelude is the easiest technically.

The best way to learn a fugue is HS, learning each voice separately.

Have you played any of the two or three part inventions? They are a good introduction to playing the WTC.

There are a lot of posts on this forum about learning to play fugues. I think I remember Bernhard posting a comprehensive step-by-step approach to learning a piece with multiple voices. Perhaps you can do a search or someone may have the link bookmarked.

[m1469]

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3171.msg27807.html#msg27807
(Strategy on learning multiple voices)


https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=54616a96261c588a57fa9ad6ac35dc0c&topic=2714.msg26624#msg26624
(Strategy of learning multiple voices: replies #7 and #11)

[gkatele]

I always thought that Bach was thumbing his nose at all keyboard artists with the C-major prelude and fugue from Book 1. The prelude is so simple, so lyrical, and he lulls you into this "Hey, I can do this; how bad can it possibly be?" attitude.

Then - WHAM!

I learned the C-minor prelude first (it's got some character to it, especially if you don't play it like a typewriter). Then I did the C-minor fugue. I still stumble over some of the 16th note scales every now and then, but it's a pile of fun to play.

I remember someone saying that the hardest fugue of all is the first one you learn.

How true!

It took me about 2 months to (sorta) learn the c-major fugue, and I still don't have it committed to memory. It was worth the effort. It's the perfect companion to the prelude. It's lyrical, crystalline and pure. Every now and then when I (poorly) play it, I still get a chill up my back from the beauty of this music - and it's a FUGUE!

Learn it slowly, following the advice here, and you'll learn to love it as I do.

George

(now working on the G-minor prelude and fugue from book 1)

[kghayesh]

yeah ok but in the end, will i be supposed to play it from memory or from the score??? I feel both will be a very hard job as the notes are too complicated and does not follow any logical sequence as in all music

[gkatele]

the notes are too complicated and does not follow any logical sequence as in all music

Ah, but they do follow a logical sequence. Otherwise it wouldn't be a fugue, arguably one of the strictest forms of music. Have your teacher point out the structure of the fugue, how the voices enter, how the episodes occur, and you will see.

Gotta love the fugues!


George K