Solo keyboard music - an introduction
Which Keyboard Instrument?
There is some debate about Bach's preferred instrument(s) for his keyboard works - often he only specified that his works were written for 'Clavier', a term which refers to keyboard instruments in general (or 'the keyboard' of an instrument).
In his time, his works would have been performed most frequently on a harpsichord (probably a larger instrument than we often hear today, with two manuals), but also on a clavichord or an organ without using the pedals.
Today, the solo keyboard works are most often heard on the modern pianoforte.
THE BAROQUE GERMAN HARPSICHORD:
http://www.baroquemusic.org/bargerhpschd.html
THE BAROQUE LUTE HARPSICHORD:
http://www.baroquemusic.org/barluthp.html
PERFORMING BACH ON THE CLAVICHORD: http://homepages.kdsi.net/~sherman/Bachonclavichord.htm
A quick guide to the music
Bach's solo keyboard music comprises outstanding examples in different musical forms.
There are many suites of works based on dance movements (eg the Gavotte and Sarabande), notably his Partitas, English and French Suites and French Overture.
Bach wrote a famous and epic set of 32 musical variations on a single theme, now known as the Goldberg Variations; there is also the much shorter Aria Variata, which uses the same form.
A number of Bach's earlier keyboard works, such as the Toccatas and some of the Sonatas, particularly demonstrate the inspiration of Bach's improvisatory, virtuosic skills as a keyboard player.
Others demonstrate his unrivalled art in one of the most learned musical forms of all - the fugue. Fugues comprise the imitation of one theme by many simultaneous 'voices'; some of Bach's contain five different 'voices', to be played between the two hands of a keyboard player! Most notable are his famous 48 Preludes and Fugues (two for each musical key), published in two books of 'The Well-Tempered Clavier'. His earlier essays in counterpoint include sets of Inventions in 2 and 3 parts.
Also notable are his solo concertos, including the 3-movement Italian Concerto and transcriptions of some Vivaldi violin concertos for solo keyboard. The two-manual harpsichords of Bach's time would have provided contrasting sounds in the manner of a concerto (which is more usually associated with the contrasting sounds of soloist and orchestra).
And also of interest are his 'Clavierbüchlein' (little keyboard books), the surviving examples of which Bach presented to his son (Wilhelm Friedemann) and second wife (Anna Magdalena). They served as teaching aids in the Bach household, containing many examples by J.S. Bach himself, alongside studies by his sons.
