J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

expressive resources for a new century. 19
Beethoven’s knowledge of J. S. Bach may have borne early fruit in his
Praeludium in F minor, WoO 55 (Ex.5.1; see pp.320-1 below on the question of its
date). Showing an especially close affinity to the F major prelude in WTC II, its
earnest tone and occasional sarabande rhythms at times suggest the E flat minor
prelude of WTC I. The real model however is not a particular movement but a
generalised style—the figural texture which dominates so many of Bach’s clavier
preludes, and which Beethoven sustains with impressive consistency and harmonic
imagination for a substantial forty-eight bars.
Occasionally abrasive part-writing can be read equally as a sign of inexperience or,
paradoxically, as a foretaste of his later works (Ex.5.2):
19 Quite apart from the fact that, as Forkel’s biography and Weber’s article make clear, growing
nationalist awareness sought a specifically German hero after centuries of Italian and French musical
domination.
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