Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Composer's Lounge Which preludes from the well tempered clavier are toccatas?

Here's my list:

Book I:c minor c# minor d major d minor e minor (second half) f major g major b flat major

Book II:d minor g major

The larger number of toccatas in book I is interesting and points to a difference between book I and II.

Well...someone had to tell you, might as well be me. None of them. They're all preludes, or fugues. Bach did write toccatas, but they're labeled as so.

I should have mentioned in the style of toccatas I suppose if you want to split hairs.

I'm not sure why this thread is in the Composers' Lounge.

It's a question about a composition.

Well then.

But that question is one that would be of more interest to music theorists and historians than to composers. The harmonic analysis in the other thread is perhaps relevant, but this question holds even less interest to me.

I'm curious how the OP is defining toccatas, come to that. Where does he draw the line?

Pieces based on scales, arpeggiated chords or repetitive figures.

I didn't really know where else to put it since it isn't a question about playing the piano. It's more one about style of a particular group of compositions so I thought it went here.

The Pianist Corner also hosts questions about repertoire. This one is more for composers to post their works and discuss others'.

Ok, although this isn't very clear from the forum description.

"Welcome to The Pianist Corner, the place to talk about technique, performance, piano pieces, composers, competitions, etc."

Seems pretty clear to me...

I meant the composer's lounge forum description.

Composers Lounge forum description:
Please limit this forum to discussions by composers or about composers. Of course, this is the place to ask composers questions too.

I suppose if your intent was to get a composer's viewpoint on Bach's well tempered clavier and toccatas in general then your inquiry was appropriately placed. In general I find Pianist Corner to be where analysis of existing repertoire questions usually get asked. This is typically a place for composers to post their work and get feedback from other composers. That's why I found your inquiry to be out of place. It also seemed as if you were asking a question to which you already had an answer. If your inquiry had been more about toccata composition in general then the inquiry would have been entirely appropriate.

I didn't see that description, I was referring to the forum summary listing which reads "A forum for composers to hang out, and the rest of us to ask them questions"

The problem is, I haven't seen Bach around on this forum lately.

The question was obviously not directed towards Bach, who has been dead for 264 years. It was directed towards composers, about a question of style, in regard to these particular pieces. If I put it in the wrong place then I'm sorry. The last time I posted here was in 2009 and I don't remember every little detail of what is supposed to go where or what posts people want to see and what they don't. It's funny how people get into a multi-post argument about whatever mistakes I may have actually made. instead of talking about piano music.

Really?


Then why isn't the C# major from Book I a toccata?

And I didn't start the same thread in pianist corner, so you see I'm learning.