J. S. Bach | The well-tempered clavier – Prelude in C maj, BWV 846 (1722)
 
The well-tempered clavier from J. S. Bach is one of the greatest masterpieces in music history, as well as a milestone in the codification of the western musical language. Bach composed the two books - each made of 24 preludes and 24 fugues in each of the 12 major and minor keys - with the didactical purpose of demonstrating the superiority of the well-tempered tuning system against the meantone temperament that was mostly diffused at his time. Far beyond the mere illustrative purpose, the two books include a variety of musical ideas, a structural consistency and a poetical richness that has few equals in any art. The first prelude is as simple as iconic, with a melodic line made of plain arpeggios which follows an articulated harmonic progression over the C major scale.