ABSTRACT
For as long as two decades there was only one Well-Tempered Clavier, the set of twenty-four preludes and fugues whose fair-copy manuscript Bach had assembled at Cöthen in 1722. Th e compilation of a companion volume belongs to a much later stage in Bach’s career. But because of its similarity to Part 1, and because at least a few of its movements may actually antedate those of the earlier volume, Part 2 is considered here rather than among the other late works.
