Prelude in C minor, BWV 999

The Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999, is, according to its only extant 18th-century manuscript, a composition for lute by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach P 804 at the Berlin State Library, Johann Peter Kellner wrote the piece down in keyboard notation.

[2] Based on Thomas Kohlhase [de], the 1998 edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis indicates that the piece likely originated in Bach's Köthen period, that is, between 1717 and 1723.

Bach P 804 convolute, by Russell Stinson, showed that its 19th fascicle, Kellner's copy of the BWV 999 Prelude, originated after 1727.

[11][12][13] Kellner is known as an organist and keyboard performer: his copy of BWV 999 is the only extant instance of him taking an interest in a composition for lute.

David Schulenberg [fr] compares this to the Prelude BWV 872a/1: after a section with arpeggios ending on the dominant, it continues with a fugato returning to the tonic.

[11] BWV 999's brief, introductory nature (43 measures), improvisatory feel and reiteration of a defining motif fits squarely within the prelude genre of the 1710s and 1720s.

In addition, the preludes illustrate different types of keyboard performance conventions and compositional practices.

[citation needed] The Prelude's central motif consists of intersecting rhythms between the upper and lower voice (what originally would have been the left and right hand).

Early on, the upper voice is repeated over several measures, with the left hand providing the only shifting harmonic background.

'12 little preludes or exercises for beginners'), which was included in the 9th volume of Bach's complete keyboard works published by C. F.

[17] Philipp Spitta described BWV 999 thus: Vorzüglich ist ein kleines C moll-Praeludium, das harfenartig lispelnd von einer Harmonie zur andern träumt und die wundersame Romantik des Bachschen Geistes ahnungsvoll emporsteigen läßt Very admirable is a little prelude in C minor, which runs whispering on in harp-like tones from one set of harmonies to another, and yet lets the mystical romanticism of Bach's genius pierce through it all.

[3][15][22] Hans Neemann [d], writing in the Bach-Jahrbuch of 1931, had no doubt that Bach composed the Prelude for lute:[13] Auch diese Komposition liegt der Laute in alter Stimmung sehr günstig und ist ausgezeichnet spielbar.

Die vorzüchliche Einrichtung erweist den Komponisten als mit der Lautentechnik sehr bewandert.

[24] In the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, first published in 1950, these compositions were grouped in the BWV 995–1000 range, in a section for lute works.