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Johann Sebastian Bach was the most significant composer of the Baroque era, alongside George Frederick Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann. Bach had many children, including four sons who also became well known composers (Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian). His compositions include over two hundred church cantatas, the St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, the B minor Mass, six Brandenburg Concertos, orchestral suites, concertos with orchestra for various solo instruments and numerous works for organ and clavichord.

Many pieces in this book were composed specifically for tuition purposes and written down by Johann Sebastian Bach in a little book of music for his wife Anna Magdalena. We now know that not all these pieces were by Bach himself and that some were by other composers such as Christian Petzold and Johann Adolf Hase, or by his sons Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach or Johann Christian Bach.

The pieces in this book are largely ordered according to level of difficulty. Easy two-part chorales and dances are followed by more demanding little preludes, two-part inventions and the first prelude from the WelI-Tempered Clavichord.


Playing these pieces
Ornaments should all be played on the corresponding beat, not before it. Trills or inverted mordents should begin on the upper note. Many ornaments will be difficult for beginners and can be omitted or simplified.

Pieces by Bach are normally played without the pedal. The four-part chorale O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden [O Sacred Head, sore wounded] may be played using the pedal on each crotchet beat, however. It will then sound fuller and will be easier to play without legato fingering in all parts. Metronome markings are editorial suggestions and may be adapted to suit the abilities of each player.

Wilhelm Ohmen Translation: Julia Rushworth