1722: The Well-Tempered Klavier

1722, Köthen. In a palace music room, Johann Sebastian Bach carefully tunes a harpsichord – not to perfection, but to a carefully judged compromise that makes every key usable. It is a small adjustment with far‑reaching consequences.

With his Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach sets out a complete cycle of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. The collection demonstrates a new flexibility in tuning and opens up a wider harmonic world for composers. Over time, this approach becomes central to how Western music is written, performed and heard.

Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the next eight programmes, historian Suzannah Lipscomb is in the chair, as together they explore the bold new sound worlds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Producer: Chris Taylor
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding
Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, Prelude No. 3 in C sharp major (BWV 848/1)
Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord)

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, Fugue No.3 in C sharp major (BWV 848/2)
Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord)

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, Prelude and Fugue No.22 in B flat minor (BWV 867)
Angela Hewitt (piano)

Johann Sebastian Bach: St Matthew Passion – Opening Chorus
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki (conductor)

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie, Act III, Prelude and Chaconne
Les Talens Lyriques
Christophe Rousset (conductor)

Muir and Tracey: Play That Barbershop Chord
After Hours

Frédéric Chopin: Prelude in E flat major, Op. 28 No. 19
Maurizio Pollini (piano)

Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4
Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini (conductor)

To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Key Changes."