Finally a new video! This one was a lot of fun to make and I figured out a few things which will help me on future videos. That being said, there are some points I wanted to address, if you are interested in reading them :) 1. Mixing approaches: The more I’m experimenting on this channel, the more I realize why certain things are traditionally done the way they are. I have been mixing Jazz and classical analysis in my past videos, and also on this one. For Ravel and Chopin in particular that worked really well, as their harmonic language is already very closely related to Jazz harmony. For pieces like this one, that follow a much more traditional harmonic approach (duh!) it is - at the very least - redundant to spell out every exact degree as e.g. bIII as there is only one possible third degree in a classical minor context and that is of course the minor, not the major one. So for these pieces I may switch to "proper" classical analysis in the future, which is a nice challenge because I will have to (re-)learn a few technical things then. But yeah, that's why I wrote e.g. #VIIo7 or II7 (exact position of the chords) as well as /I (Roman numeral) for bass pedals and /3 (Arabic numeral) for inversions. 2. Why Eb instead of C minor from bar 9? As I already said in the video, there are valid arguments for both interpretations. Exaggerating a bit here to make a point, but for me who is coming more from a Jazz theory background, I wouldn’t even make a distinction between C minor and Eb Major as they are relative keys. What ultimately pointed me towards Eb Major were the Bb7 chords in bar 10 and 13 which, obviously, both resolve to Eb and thus confirm the key of Eb Major, and the absence of C minor chords in this section. 3. Audio nerd things ahead: I used a little broom cabinet as a recording booth for this one. However, I didn’t put any kind of damping material in it, so after recording I noticed a slightly bathroomy sound. Do you even notice/care about any of that?! :D 4. Somehow I made quite a few little errors on this one when I wrote the script which I only noticed after I had recorded the voice-over, so I had to cut and re-arrange some of my phrases, which ended up working surprisingly well. If you feel like there are some sudden shifts in my narration, this is probably why. Again, does anyone even notice? I’m curious to get feedback! 5. Speaking of feedback, as I said in the video, it feels really nice to get so much positive and constructive feedback on my videos. If there is anything you notice, don’t hold back to write it in the comments - I really am eager to learn! :) Prelude performance recorded on 26 Dec 2022 at Trio Musikhaus Schenefeld
Just popped up on my playlist. I stopped what I was multitasking, and watched it in its entirety. Did not understand a thing but the way you presented it was very captivating.
I agree with you! I love Bach and I am working my way through the 2part inventions and some of the well tempered items. I was not taught anything about chords, so this is a whole new langage for me. But I hope by listening things may begin to fall in place. And just reading along while listening to Andy is a delight. I appreciate all of his work! N
First of all I loved your performance. What luck for me to have found your analysis. I have just started working on this piece and I am still very slow in figuring out chord progressions. Your analysis is super helpful and I plan to study the piece in sections so I will go back many times to your analysis. I will check and see all the other videos that you have put out. One fun piece is the Solfeggietto by Bach’s son Carl Philipp. The chord progressions are easier in that piece and if you have more analysis I will study them all. Yes, the 2nd Prelude is anything but easy but how much fun to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you Andy and greetings from the US.
Nice!! And thank you for your other comment (which is not displayed anymore on the video, at least for me) and for taking the time to write it. You mentioned the importance of the bass movement rather than the vertical harmony, and funnily enough my "strong verticality" has always been a pitfall for me, also in composing, and in fact I recently got stuck there again. So studying more in depth about baroque conventions, as I pointed out is my plan in the video - could indeed be a smart move ;)
@@andynalysis Thanks and great video, I was actually looking to brushing up on this type of harmonic analysis since I’ve been completely trying to see it from the thoroughbass perspective the past year, where an E in the bass with a G and C is not C major chord in first inversion but a 6/3 chord over E, it is its own chord and has its own unique sound even though it has the same sonority as C first inversion and I’m surprised how hard it has been to sort of “unlearn” this way of seeing it. Derek Remes talks about that we on one hand have our “chordal inversion glasses”; on the other hand, we have our “thoroughbass glasses.” Which set of glasses we have on will determine what we perceive. For instance, any time we talk about roman numerals, we have our chordal inversion glasses on. No matter whether in root position, first inversion, second inversion, or third inversion, we measure intervals from the chordal root. In contrast, we can also look at harmony with our thoroughbass glasses, in which case we’d describe the same chords by always measuring intervals from the bass-that is, from the lowest note-not from the chordal root. These types of “thoroughbass glasses” is how Bach conceived of music. No approach is better or worse, right or wrong, both have their own merits. I could still recommend to have a brief encounter with thoroughbass and/or partimento because it might show some aspects of this music you previously might not have noticed, after all it was written during the golden days of thoroughbass. It has been a real eye opener for me on many levels
Harmonic analysis is good for any piece, but I'm working on this one too, and if find the harmonic understanding a must. Otherwise, there are just so many notes - we have to have a harmonic anchor/understanding. I love the tempo on your performance! Somewhere between 55-58 bpm? Thank you for putting this together visually!
Thank you for posting! I am currently going through them and am now on the third fugue! Really enjoyed your analysis and it helps bring more life to the piece, kind of like the bonus features to a movie you already liked :-D. One thing I noticed while learning this was that during the C7 and Fm section before the end, the last little part of the run is actually 64th notes. You have to go slower and then speed up on the way down. Thanks again for sharing! Keep it up!
So when you're in the minor mode and have F7/Eb that goes to B diminished / D to c minor, I think it's worth noting that in the context of baroque norms and this piece, that IV7 in any of the inversions that comes right from the melodic minor is also a completely standard way to get back to c minor. It could be a V7/Bb major or it could just be IV7 in c minor with that b3 2 1 bass motion, which can also be a #6 #7 1 bass motion when the same thing is in a different inversion. It's standard material from at least before Corelli and you see it in minor rule of the octave in a different inversion where on that raised 6th degree, a chord of the sixth is used on both degrees 6 and 7 on the way up. Now unlike in rule of the octave when degree 6 is reached by degree 5, if you start anywhere else where the note that would be the 7th of IV, degree 3 of the minor key, is prepared, you can have the 7th too as is there. I think it's easier to understand this by figured bass and melodic and bass motions with harmonization, because I never would have understood anything practical with it before I was practicing this continuo stuff. Why? It has you practice the patterns and it gives predictive power. For example, if you consider the "page 1", also called "the Lully", or the discant bass clausula which this piece basically opens with a variant of, and then you also understand variations of the tied bass version of the circle of fifths sequence in 4 voices which starts the same way (that is starting with i, then using VI6 to avoid parallel fifths getting to ii dim 42 [c in bass for previous two], v 65, i 42 [Bb in bass], iv 65, VII 42 [Ab in bass], III 65, VI 42 [G in bass], ii 65, v 42 [F in bass], i 65, IV 42 [note the raised third is absolutely necessary to avoid an augmented 2nd leap if you're ending this sequence this way], vii diminished 6th, and FINALLY i. You will see that Bach does the tonicized version with #4 2, and just 6 instead of 65 chords, and that he cuts off the sequence early. After III6, he does VI6 iidim III which is also IV6 vii I in Eb major. Getting to degree 3 in the bass, all you gotta do is move the 3 voice triad up a major 2nd to get IV 4 2, which is followed by vii dim 6 i. So I would say that the bass notes of these 6th chords happen to be G and C is an incidental occurrence that Bach couldn't have been unaware of, but that the most important aspect is that he aborts the sequence to do ^6 ^7 ^1 in Eb major, that Eb is transformed to an F7 and while the bass reverses its way back down to C, you have now in an inner line the ^#6 ^#7 ^1 in c minor. These things so far are all continuations and variations of the very simple discant bass clausula it starts with because it is basically the same thing as the 6 / #4 2 sequence. The 6 7 1's are kind of a finisher to the sequence. After that you see he prolongs the c minor and then he does a little work down to G7 and it's basically over because the rest of it is his breakdown kind of ending tricks.
I want to apologize for how complicated it is saying that whole thing in roman numerals. Figured bass is so much easier as well as just playing what I'm talking about slowly in 4 voice block chords. IMO reducing more complicated music to simpler music components is an easier way because you can spend the same time trying to grasp the numerals better, working with the building blocks which have nameable recognizable chunks. The whole point of me explaining the entire extended more diatonic sequence is for people to realize the sort of providence of the components used in the prelude, and then not only how Bach mixed up the ending part of the sequence with a double 6 7 1 in Eb major then C minor, but also the fact that the implied 4 voice texture is created out of 2, and he has it decorated with neighbor tone figues.
@@lerippletoe6893 Wow, this is gold! Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed comment! I read through all of it and am going to have a look at the parts you pointed out - as I wrote in the description and as is probably obvious from my method of analysis, I come from a Jazz theory background and have not studied figured bass in detail, but am very interested to learn more about it. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!
@andynalysis do you play piano? If so the Derek Remes voice leading compendium has that sequence and others written out in 3 and 4 voices. Just print that off and compare with Bach examples
Nice video, and it's really nice whenever I encounter anyone who recognises the emotion and harmonic tension in this piece! 🙂 A relatively minor point: I don't agree with your identification of harmonies in bars 23-24 (7:09 to 7:16). Bar 23 is a 2nd-inversion tonic, and bar 24 is a 3rd-inversion submediant 7th; the secondary dominant in bar 22 does not resolve directly onto a dominant, but does so indirectly by a i64-to-V progression, with the i64 being bars 23-24 [where the submediant harmony in bar 24 essentially arises from the A flat in the top voice occurring as an upper auxiliary note relative to G in i64], and then the resolution in bar 25 being a dominant 9th.
That makes complete sense - i64 of course, and I wasn't aware of Submediant 7th chords, so I learned something new! Thank you for taking the time to write this comment, very much appreciated :)
Simply speaking, they are two different pieces with a different character, so they are not constructed exactly with the same blueprint so to speak. Your question got me thinking though, whether Bach planned the exact form in advance or the composition just ended up feeling right this way. I would have to do some more research on that, because I know that Bach was in fact very meticulous about form and proportions
Finally a new video! This one was a lot of fun to make and I figured out a few things which will help me on future videos. That being said, there are some points I wanted to address, if you are interested in reading them :)
1. Mixing approaches:
The more I’m experimenting on this channel, the more I realize why certain things are traditionally done the way they are. I have been mixing Jazz and classical analysis in my past videos, and also on this one. For Ravel and Chopin in particular that worked really well, as their harmonic language is already very closely related to Jazz harmony. For pieces like this one, that follow a much more traditional harmonic approach (duh!) it is - at the very least - redundant to spell out every exact degree as e.g. bIII as there is only one possible third degree in a classical minor context and that is of course the minor, not the major one. So for these pieces I may switch to "proper" classical analysis in the future, which is a nice challenge because I will have to (re-)learn a few technical things then.
But yeah, that's why I wrote e.g. #VIIo7 or II7 (exact position of the chords) as well as /I (Roman numeral) for bass pedals and /3 (Arabic numeral) for inversions.
2. Why Eb instead of C minor from bar 9?
As I already said in the video, there are valid arguments for both interpretations. Exaggerating a bit here to make a point, but for me who is coming more from a Jazz theory background, I wouldn’t even make a distinction between C minor and Eb Major as they are relative keys. What ultimately pointed me towards Eb Major were the Bb7 chords in bar 10 and 13 which, obviously, both resolve to Eb and thus confirm the key of Eb Major, and the absence of C minor chords in this section.
3. Audio nerd things ahead:
I used a little broom cabinet as a recording booth for this one. However, I didn’t put any kind of damping material in it, so after recording I noticed a slightly bathroomy sound. Do you even notice/care about any of that?! :D
4. Somehow I made quite a few little errors on this one when I wrote the script which I only noticed after I had recorded the voice-over, so I had to cut and re-arrange some of my phrases, which ended up working surprisingly well. If you feel like there are some sudden shifts in my narration, this is probably why. Again, does anyone even notice? I’m curious to get feedback!
5. Speaking of feedback, as I said in the video, it feels really nice to get so much positive and constructive feedback on my videos. If there is anything you notice, don’t hold back to write it in the comments - I really am eager to learn! :)
Prelude performance recorded on 26 Dec 2022 at Trio Musikhaus Schenefeld
Thank you for the analysis. I am learning this piece and I really like the music theory behind it. Keep posting analysis of Bach’s music!
Just popped up on my playlist. I stopped what I was multitasking, and watched it in its entirety. Did not understand a thing but the way you presented it was very captivating.
That's so cool, thank you!!
I agree with you! I love Bach and I am working my way through the 2part inventions and some of the well tempered items. I was not taught anything about chords, so this is a whole new langage for me. But I hope by listening things may begin to fall in place. And just reading along while listening to Andy is a delight. I appreciate all of his work!
N
First of all I loved your performance. What luck for me to have found your analysis. I have just started working on this piece and I am still very slow in figuring out chord progressions. Your analysis is super helpful and I plan to study the piece in sections so I will go back many times to your analysis. I will check and see all the other videos that you have put out. One fun piece is the Solfeggietto by Bach’s son Carl Philipp. The chord progressions are easier in that piece and if you have more analysis I will study them all. Yes, the 2nd Prelude is anything but easy but how much fun to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you Andy and greetings from the US.
Loving the depth, Bach's music deserves these well made analysis videos, do keep making more!
Thank you so much! I will definitely keep making videos, next one is already in the works ;)
Merci beaucoup ;)
Wait now I see some further elaboration or fortspinnung of this pattern leading up to the end, wow this is brilliant!
Nice!! And thank you for your other comment (which is not displayed anymore on the video, at least for me) and for taking the time to write it. You mentioned the importance of the bass movement rather than the vertical harmony, and funnily enough my "strong verticality" has always been a pitfall for me, also in composing, and in fact I recently got stuck there again. So studying more in depth about baroque conventions, as I pointed out is my plan in the video - could indeed be a smart move ;)
@@andynalysis Thanks and great video, I was actually looking to brushing up on this type of harmonic analysis since I’ve been completely trying to see it from the thoroughbass perspective the past year, where an E in the bass with a G and C is not C major chord in first inversion but a 6/3 chord over E, it is its own chord and has its own unique sound even though it has the same sonority as C first inversion and I’m surprised how hard it has been to sort of “unlearn” this way of seeing it. Derek Remes talks about that we on one hand have our “chordal inversion glasses”; on the other hand, we have our “thoroughbass glasses.” Which set of glasses we have on will determine what we perceive. For instance, any time we talk about roman numerals, we have our chordal inversion glasses on. No matter whether in root position, first inversion, second inversion, or third inversion, we measure intervals from the chordal root. In contrast, we can also look at harmony with our thoroughbass glasses, in which case we’d describe the same chords by always measuring intervals from the bass-that is, from the lowest note-not from the chordal root. These types of “thoroughbass glasses” is how Bach conceived of music. No approach is better or worse, right or wrong, both have their own merits. I could still recommend to have a brief encounter with thoroughbass and/or partimento because it might show some aspects of this music you previously might not have noticed, after all it was written during the golden days of thoroughbass. It has been a real eye opener for me on many levels
Harmonic analysis is good for any piece, but I'm working on this one too, and if find the harmonic understanding a must. Otherwise, there are just so many notes - we have to have a harmonic anchor/understanding. I love the tempo on your performance! Somewhere between 55-58 bpm? Thank you for putting this together visually!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I have been struggling to analyze this piece. This is so helpful!!!
I absolutely love this! Thank you so much!
Excellent analysis! I’m studying this gem in these days - your comments are very useful.
Thank you for posting! I am currently going through them and am now on the third fugue! Really enjoyed your analysis and it helps bring more life to the piece, kind of like the bonus features to a movie you already liked :-D. One thing I noticed while learning this was that during the C7 and Fm section before the end, the last little part of the run is actually 64th notes. You have to go slower and then speed up on the way down. Thanks again for sharing! Keep it up!
i was ready for something more.
Great! Thank you!
So when you're in the minor mode and have F7/Eb that goes to B diminished / D to c minor, I think it's worth noting that in the context of baroque norms and this piece, that IV7 in any of the inversions that comes right from the melodic minor is also a completely standard way to get back to c minor. It could be a V7/Bb major or it could just be IV7 in c minor with that b3 2 1 bass motion, which can also be a #6 #7 1 bass motion when the same thing is in a different inversion.
It's standard material from at least before Corelli and you see it in minor rule of the octave in a different inversion where on that raised 6th degree, a chord of the sixth is used on both degrees 6 and 7 on the way up. Now unlike in rule of the octave when degree 6 is reached by degree 5, if you start anywhere else where the note that would be the 7th of IV, degree 3 of the minor key, is prepared, you can have the 7th too as is there.
I think it's easier to understand this by figured bass and melodic and bass motions with harmonization, because I never would have understood anything practical with it before I was practicing this continuo stuff. Why? It has you practice the patterns and it gives predictive power.
For example, if you consider the "page 1", also called "the Lully", or the discant bass clausula which this piece basically opens with a variant of, and then you also understand variations of the tied bass version of the circle of fifths sequence in 4 voices which starts the same way (that is starting with i, then using VI6 to avoid parallel fifths getting to ii dim 42 [c in bass for previous two], v 65, i 42 [Bb in bass], iv 65, VII 42 [Ab in bass], III 65, VI 42 [G in bass], ii 65, v 42 [F in bass], i 65, IV 42 [note the raised third is absolutely necessary to avoid an augmented 2nd leap if you're ending this sequence this way], vii diminished 6th, and FINALLY i. You will see that Bach does the tonicized version with #4 2, and just 6 instead of 65 chords, and that he cuts off the sequence early.
After III6, he does VI6 iidim III which is also IV6 vii I in Eb major. Getting to degree 3 in the bass, all you gotta do is move the 3 voice triad up a major 2nd to get IV 4 2, which is followed by vii dim 6 i. So I would say that the bass notes of these 6th chords happen to be G and C is an incidental occurrence that Bach couldn't have been unaware of, but that the most important aspect is that he aborts the sequence to do ^6 ^7 ^1 in Eb major, that Eb is transformed to an F7 and while the bass reverses its way back down to C, you have now in an inner line the ^#6 ^#7 ^1 in c minor. These things so far are all continuations and variations of the very simple discant bass clausula it starts with because it is basically the same thing as the 6 / #4 2 sequence. The 6 7 1's are kind of a finisher to the sequence. After that you see he prolongs the c minor and then he does a little work down to G7 and it's basically over because the rest of it is his breakdown kind of ending tricks.
I want to apologize for how complicated it is saying that whole thing in roman numerals. Figured bass is so much easier as well as just playing what I'm talking about slowly in 4 voice block chords. IMO reducing more complicated music to simpler music components is an easier way because you can spend the same time trying to grasp the numerals better, working with the building blocks which have nameable recognizable chunks. The whole point of me explaining the entire extended more diatonic sequence is for people to realize the sort of providence of the components used in the prelude, and then not only how Bach mixed up the ending part of the sequence with a double 6 7 1 in Eb major then C minor, but also the fact that the implied 4 voice texture is created out of 2, and he has it decorated with neighbor tone figues.
@@lerippletoe6893 Wow, this is gold! Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed comment! I read through all of it and am going to have a look at the parts you pointed out - as I wrote in the description and as is probably obvious from my method of analysis, I come from a Jazz theory background and have not studied figured bass in detail, but am very interested to learn more about it. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!
@andynalysis do you play piano? If so the Derek Remes voice leading compendium has that sequence and others written out in 3 and 4 voices. Just print that off and compare with Bach examples
@@lerippletoe6893 perfect, I'll do that! :)
that was helpful thanks!
Nice video, and it's really nice whenever I encounter anyone who recognises the emotion and harmonic tension in this piece! 🙂 A relatively minor point: I don't agree with your identification of harmonies in bars 23-24 (7:09 to 7:16). Bar 23 is a 2nd-inversion tonic, and bar 24 is a 3rd-inversion submediant 7th; the secondary dominant in bar 22 does not resolve directly onto a dominant, but does so indirectly by a i64-to-V progression, with the i64 being bars 23-24 [where the submediant harmony in bar 24 essentially arises from the A flat in the top voice occurring as an upper auxiliary note relative to G in i64], and then the resolution in bar 25 being a dominant 9th.
That makes complete sense - i64 of course, and I wasn't aware of Submediant 7th chords, so I learned something new! Thank you for taking the time to write this comment, very much appreciated :)
i wasn't ill tempered after 2 years of pop music and abd easy tunes when i furst got my starter keyboard.
those are rich chords that explains a lot.
Merci +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why 38? Prelude in C Major BWV 846 has only 35 measures
Simply speaking, they are two different pieces with a different character, so they are not constructed exactly with the same blueprint so to speak. Your question got me thinking though, whether Bach planned the exact form in advance or the composition just ended up feeling right this way. I would have to do some more research on that, because I know that Bach was in fact very meticulous about form and proportions