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'm starting a new Live Stream format next week, and I will need YOUR help with it! Please take a look here: https://guitar-community.tonebase.co/t/83yk5py
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@STUDY GROUP 999, how about we tackle Bourée BWV 996 for the next study group. Please watch Joaquin Clerch's new production for BWV 996. Thanks
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Bill Young Good suggestion Bill. The second section in particular should be very interesting.
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Bill Young martin @STUDY GROUP 999 Great idea Bill!
In fact, it would be nice to have a continuing logical progression of Bach pieces for Study Group-- starting with less difficult and gradually moving to more difficult pieces. (the Prelude BWV 999 and then Bouree BWV 996 would be great way to start this). Of course with each of the pieces there should be reference given to relevant tutorials and performance videos.
What do you guys think?
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Barney Bill Young Great suggestion, Bill! I love the idea of creating a progressive path for studying Bach's pieces, starting with the easier Prelude BWV 999 and Bouree BWV 996. Having references to tutorials and performance videos will definitely aid your learning process! What dies everybody think of this? Study Group 999
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martin yes, love the study group and the idea of working progressively through Bach is brilliant!
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martin I love the idea of this progressive path and continuing with BWV 996!
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Great idea. I'd also put in a vote for the prelude from BWV998
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I also think it's a great idea - maybe the BWV996 Allemande after the Bouree?
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I would suggest Prelude of the first suite for cello, BWV 1007 Bach.
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Javier Elizondo and martin . I'd very much enjoy a Study Group on BWV 1007. Heard a great live performance recently which inspired me to take out the score again. I discovered I'd worked out fingering from start to finish some years ago. It's not been in my regular practice routine and it certainly deserves to be.
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Looking beyond Bach at potential future Study Groups; we could consider some of the more approachable Villa-Lobos compositions. I have in mind:
- Part 1 of Suite Popular Brésilienne: the Mazurka Chôro
- Prélude No. 5
- Prélude No. 4
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Neil Macmillan I second that, Neil. In fact, it'd be great to tackle all the etudes and preludes of Villa Lobos, one at a time. It might take a few lifetimes though
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Not related to the topic, but I'm posting a few bars of La Catedral, the preludio. With my rudimentary knowledge of music theory, I've dared to learn a bit of score analysis to inform my playing better. The chord and interval markings aren't mine, I got it from a website called johnhallguitar.com.
I'm trying to make sense of the chordal movement (things like tonic, dominant, chord inversion etc.). If you have played and analysed this piece, I'd like to have your thoughts. I'm specifically confused about the 3d measure. Isn't it some type of Eminor or or is it C#m7 (b5)/B as notated below. Also I'm wondering if there are imperfect/half cadences in this piece (for eg, when we move from bar 1 to bar 4 or am I wrong?)
Any other thoughts, observations, suggestions or things I should look for are welcome. I know, La Catedral shouldn't be a piece I should analyze with my level of musical understanding. But since I'm working on it currently, I thought I'll try to understand the piece better.
Thanks
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary I think the annotation are good, roughly the opening of this prelude is similar to the BWV999 as it starts with a tonic pedal of B for the first 4 bars with a II° (C#° or C#dim) chord for bars 2-3-4, with an F# at the top on the second bar that is an appoggiatura resolving on the next bar, then the II° chord fully resolves on bar 5 when back to the root chord.
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you the reply, Blaise. So, for the first 5 bars, it's a i-ii-i progression without the major tension that's associated with progressions like I-V-I that are much more common with a lot of tension and resolution. Am I right? Barrios is such a genius and elegant composer.
And then in bar 8, I've read that it turns into the relative D major? I wonder what's the relationship between B minor and it's relative major. Does that mean that the key briefly changes to D major? From there it progresses through 4 bars to return to Bm at bar 12. Please excuse my ignorance
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary In fact a diminished chord can function as dominant chord, in a minor key the ii (C#-E-G) is naturally a diminished one, and then here is used as a direct substitute for a dominant 7th chord. In bar 8 we have the pivotal chord that makes it possible to go (or not) in D major on next bar, but we're still not there because Barrios could have made another harmonic choice, bar 9 tells you his choice. You answered your own question, the relation between them is their relativity by sharing the same key signature, one being minor and the other major. While in a major key you'll mostly modulate to the dominant key first, in a minor key it's as natural to modulate to the relative major. As an example take look at the well known Bach Bourrée from Suite BWV 996, the first part is in e minor and modulates to G major for the second part, while the Allemande modulates to it's dominant B major for the second part. Yes, the piece modulates to different keys through chord progressions to create interesting harmonic and melodic movements and variations. Hope this helps!
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you very much, Blaise. This definitely helps. Much of theory still goes over my head, but you've provided me enough insights to pore over and explore more, not just on this piece but other pieces as well.
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Moving on to potential future study groups .... I second the opinion that maybe we should try some Villa-Lobos, especially one of his easier preludes. As much as I love Bach, there are some more contemporary composers who have written beautiful pieces for the guitar. Maybe some of the easier works from Angelo Gilardino? Maybe a piece by Gary Ryan? Even something from the Beatles by Takemitsu.
Bach is amazing, but I think that the pieces have been well-studied and well-commented on. Plus, we have to keep Martin on his toes!
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
