Bach’s Prelude in D minor, BWV 999
Welcome to our very first Study Group — a collaborative, peer-led dive into a beautiful piece of music over the course of two weeks.
We’re kicking things off with Bach’s Prelude in D minor, BWV 999!
This is not a course or a class — it’s a space for mutual exploration, discussion, and shared progress. I’ll be learning the piece alongside you (again — it’s been a while!), and I’m excited to discover new things together.
What to expect:
Between June 9th-20th, we’ll focus on:
Fingerings and technique
Harmonic structure and phrasing
Interpretation and expressive choices
Your own questions and perspectives!
We’ll also meet for two live Zoom sessions to share progress, chat about challenges, and nerd out over all things Bach.
How to participate:
- Sign-Up here!
- Grab your score of BWV 999
- Introduce yourself below!
- Join the prompts and discussion!
- Share your thoughts, ideas, or a clip of your playing!
Zoom Call #1 – June 13th, 9am PST
Zoom Call #2 – June 20th, 9am PST
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Study Group 999 I have created this "Study Group 999" tag, so if you have a finding that you want to make everybody aware of, you can use that to tag everybody who signed up for the study group!
I am sharing a complete harmonic analysis which can be found in "Tilman Hoppstock's Bach's Lute Works Volume 2", some more info from Timan's book sample (excellent stuff), and Kellner's original faszikel of the prelude in c-minor, I hope that helps!
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Martin a simple harmonic structure with the genius of Bach. Amazing! Thanks Martin!
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martin Here's a Google translation of the first document:
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martin thank you so much
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Barney I had to think of Hit the road Jack sometimes;-)
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Martin I was not able to use the tag for the group, maybe it's only available to admins?
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Great idea. I learnt this piece last year (well, sort of). Looking forward to making a better job of it!
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@martin.3 this is a fun idea, thank you for starting the discussion and posting all these materials! It's great to see everyone's interpretations.
I go back a long time with this piece - I first learned it probably nearly 30 years ago, and have always loved coming back to it. It's great to have another excuse to revisit it and learn new things.
Here is a recording I made a few years ago.
- I don't try to do the bass note mutes. I prefer the sound without the muting.
- I don't attempt the low F with the pinky barre in m15. It's too hard on my dainty fingers! :D But also I just like the way it sounds to jump up the octave.
- I always play the F in the bass in m23. I think it's really important to mark the high point of that extended ascending-then-descending passage.
- I've always stayed in open position for the tricky passage in m31-35, because I was never able to come up with a convincing alternative that keeps the arpeggio going. Thank you @magmasys for the Douglas Niedt fingerings -- I am giving them a try now! Though I have to say that once I made friends with the fingering that uses the hammer-ons, I found I don't mind the slight change in texture at that point. The movement to A at m33-34 is IMO the harmonic climax of the piece, and I find the change in arpeggio pattern brings a tiny bit of extra tension that resolves when the pattern resumes at m35.
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Hello, I am Stephen Holland. I have been studying 1007 for several months and am ready to move on to another composition. I have studied 999 but not in depth. I hope to gain resources for study and awareness as to how to attack 999. All the best to everyone!
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Hi, I'm Peter, living in Vancouver, Canada. I learned this piece a few years ago, and look forward to revisiting with all the great insights from this group. Also previously played it on the piano -- where it's an easier piece to play.
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Hi, I’m François.
I live in Belgium, near Brussels. I worked on BWV 999 about 50 years ago... I'm very happy to Björk on it again. Thank you all for participating in this forum and to Martin for his very interesting video.
Se you soon,François.
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2 Versions of BWV 999 Prelude
I am reacquainting myself with this piece after lying dormant for several years.
The first video is a rather straightforward performance that I feel represents where I am with this work at this time. I feel it needs more work on phrasing and dynamics.
The 2nd video is my attempt to introduce staccato to the last beat of each measure in the baseline, up until the dominant pedal (E) mm. 18 and then returning at the measures leading to the fin al cadence, mm. 40 -42.
I find this technique quite challenging and this is certainly a rough attempt at it. I would certainly welcome any observations anyone has on this.
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Jack Stewart Good to see you here Jack! I'm doing a similar articulation for the staccato using the thumb to stop the basses (combined with lifted fingers), this is the best I found to ensure a coherent mechanism through the pattern, and not to have open strings still rigning. I also stop upper strings (1+2) with M and I on the last beat, it the keeps the rests and provides more flexibility for switches of the left hand.
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Blaise Laflamme I would be interested in seeing how you execute the staccato bass notes. In addition to learning to damp the notes with my thumb I especially have difficulty moving my thumb to the next bass note after damping the previous bass note. I can (sort of) do it slowly but trying to get up to a moderate speed always trips me up. I am also trying to make the staccato notes longer rather than clipped which gives me even less time to shift to the next note.
Hopefully this will at least give me more practice on RH stopping notes. Whew!
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In preparation for tomorrow's Zoom meeting I'm sharing with you the score I'm working on with my current ideas for left hand fingerings. What I'm looking for with this is to provide a way to maintain a cohesive articulation, sound texture and proper voicing for the pattern through out the piece. For the right hand I'm damping the thumb on the 2nd beat, to apply the rest, and on each descending eight notes of the last beat to provide a detached articulation while damping m-a on upper strings to apply the rests. I hope you'll find it interesting, feel free to comment!
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Blaise Laflamme Nice clean edition.
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Neil Macmillan Thank you, I imported the MUSICXML/XML version David provided into Dorico as a starting point, or you can use his Musescore version directly (they all can be found in this thread). I'm in a need to better master Dorico for upcoming scores and projects!
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Blaise Laflamme Beautiful score Blaise. I am going to copy some of your scoring techniques (such as your vertical brackets for indicating barres!
) Are you using Dorico? I have been using Musescore which I like but they don't have a version for iPad which I would like for travel. I have Dorico but I haven't tried it yet.I noticed you have a different solution for mm 31-34 which also avoids the slurred notes. I use a more Campanella style with the open 2nd string. I will have to try your version when I get to my guitar.
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A favourite part of the Prelude starts at Bar 7. The quarter-note basses descend very pleasingly: D C B Flat to A in Bar 10. Then two bars with G Sharp.
LH fingering can be tricky. In Bar 10, the D A D A in second beat can use 4 2 4 1. Swapping 1 for 2 (for the second 3rd String A) makes it easier to move into Bar 11, with a shift from Position I to Position II.
In Bar 11 use 3 for G Sharp in bass; 4 2 1 for top voice. Third beat can use 2 4 0 4, though the Open D will need to be muted.
Bar 12 starts in same position and fingering as Bar 11. Third beat requires a shift back to Position I for the top G Sharp.
The video shows LH fingering from Bar 10 to partway through Bar 12, (though I'm hitting an A in the opening bass in Bar 12 instead of the G Sharp it's supposed to be).
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
