The Well-Tempered Clavier

The Well-Tempered Clavier is a two-volume collection of keyboard music by Johann Sebastian Bach, the first book compiled in 1722 and the second in 1742. Each book contains 24 pairs of preludes and fugues, one pair in every major and minor key, moving in order through the full chromatic scale from C major to B minor. Bach described the collection as written for the benefit of musical youth eager to learn and for the enjoyment of those already skilled, and it demonstrated in practice that a keyboard instrument tuned appropriately could be played comfortably in every key; it is regarded as one of the most important works in the history of Western classical music and shaped the keyboard writing of later composers from Mozart and Beethoven to Chopin and Shostakovich.