Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548

Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 is a piece of organ music written by Johann Sebastian Bach sometime between 1727 and 1736,[1] during his time in Leipzig.

[4] The autograph manuscript, along with that of the Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544, which is believed to have been written around the same time, share the same watermark and style of handwriting, which points to a composition period of 1727-1731.

The second section suddenly thrusts the piece into an over-one-hundred measure episode of rapid, toccata-like passages of great virtuosity, with the cascading passagework occasionally giving way to the subject.

"[4] The piece has been included in Franz Liszt's transcriptions of Bach's six "Great" organ Preludes and Fugues, BWV 543 - 548, for solo piano (S.

[10] The piece was also transcribed by Ivan Karlovitsch Tscherlitzky[11] as well as by Samuil Feinberg[12] The piece has been arranged for mandolin, cello and double bass, and performed by Chris Thile, Yo Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer respectively for their 2017 album "Bach Trios," released by Nonesuch Records.

The beginning of the BWV 548 Prelude, in the hand of J.S. Bach.

The fugue subject, by the shape of which the composition has acquired its name - "The Wedge"