Bach: WTC I, Prelude and Fugue in F minor

Some commentators have called this prelude and fugue melancholy, but I hear a profound serenity. Bach achieves this serenity by eschewing the use of all those techniques that push the musical movement forward, such as sequences and stretto. Instead of those methods, which work by stepping up the musical tension, Bach works through a number of different keys and harmonies, none very remote, with frequent cadences. A cadence brings the music to a close and composers, like Wagner, who want a constantly increasing tension, avoid them. Here, there are cadences every few measures. If I could suggest a visual metaphor, listening to this music is like watching clouds slowly move and transform in the sky.

The fugue as well departs from Bach's usual practice: instead of the subject moving from tonic to dominant harmony, this one moves from dominant to tonic harmony. The subject is quite chromatic and the answer is tonal. The countersubject is a very simple anapest figure that is used for all the episodes. That's it really. Subject, answer, simple episode. He makes smooth modulations to closely related keys like C and G major and A flat and E flat. But no strettos, no clever invertible counterpoint, no transformations of the subject. Just subject, answer and episode. Despite the chromatic angularity of the subject the mood is serene calm throughout. That in itself is pretty remarkable.

Here is Sviatoslav Richter and the subject is shown in red in the fugue.