# The E♭ minor Prelude, harmony only (after Bach, BWV 853)

**Composer of this Composition:** Peter · **License out:** CC BY-SA 4.0
**Meter:** 3/2 (six quarter beats a bar) · **Tempo:** quarter note ≈ 84 BPM · **Length:** 40 bars
**Directionality:** 0.3 (stay close to the chords; textures are welcome if the harmony is right)
**Allowed transforms:** trim, gain, fade (no pitch-shift, no time-stretch)

## Prose

Night music. A slow sarabande step, grave and close. Soft attacks, and let each chord ring into the next.
One chord per bar. The Neapolitan at bar 26, a deceptive cadence at bar 29, and four bars on one
diminished seventh while its bass moves (bars 32–35) are the peak, so let it hang. An E-flat pedal from
bar 36. It ends on E-flat major, held. A slight broadening over the last three bars. A stone church at
night, never washed out.

C-flat, F-flat and C-flat major seven are Bach's spelling. The covered chords are B, E and Bmaj7.

## Chord anchors (one per bar)

| Bar | Chord | Bar | Chord | Bar | Chord |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ebm | 2 | Abm/Eb | 3 | Ddim |
| 4 | Ebm | 5 | Gb7/Bb | 6 | Cb |
| 7 | Eb7/G | 8 | Abm | 9 | Bb7/D |
| 10 | Ebm | 11 | F7/A | 12 | Bbm |
| 13 | Cm7b5/Eb | 14 | Bbm/Db | 15 | F7sus4 |
| 16 | Bbm | 17 | Gdim7 | 18 | Gdim7/Db |
| 19 | Eb7 | 20 | Ddim7/F | 21 | Bb7 |
| 22 | Eb7/G | 23 | Abm | 24 | Bb7/D |
| 25 | Ebm | 26 | Fb/Ab | 27 | Bb7/Ab |
| 28 | Bb7 | 29 | Cbmaj7 | 30 | Eb7/G |
| 31 | Fbmaj7 | 32 | Ddim7/F | 33 | Ddim7 |
| 34 | Ddim7/Ab | 35 | Ddim7 | 36 | Ebm |
| 37 | Eb7 | 38 | Fm7b5/Eb | 39 | Ddim7/Eb |
| 40 | Eb |  |  |  |  |

Slash chords name the bass. Cb, Fb and Cbmaj7 are Bach's spelling of B, E and Bmaj7. A Performer that
can't match a bass note may let it go, but it should keep the chord.

## Composition

*Structure:* `3/2 · 84 BPM · [1 bar Ebm][1 bar Abm/Eb][1 bar Ddim][1 bar Ebm][1 bar Gb7/Bb][1 bar Cb][1 bar Eb7/G][1 bar Abm][1 bar Bb7/D][1 bar Ebm][1 bar F7/A][1 bar Bbm][1 bar Cm7b5/Eb][1 bar Bbm/Db][1 bar F7sus4][1 bar Bbm][1 bar Gdim7][1 bar Gdim7/Db][1 bar Eb7][1 bar Ddim7/F][1 bar Bb7][1 bar Eb7/G][1 bar Abm][1 bar Bb7/D][1 bar Ebm][1 bar Fb/Ab][1 bar Bb7/Ab][1 bar Bb7][1 bar Cbmaj7][1 bar Eb7/G][1 bar Fbmaj7][1 bar Ddim7/F][1 bar Ddim7][1 bar Ddim7/Ab][1 bar Ddim7][1 bar Ebm][1 bar Eb7][1 bar Fm7b5/Eb][1 bar Ddim7/Eb][1 bar Eb]`

## Credits

- **Music:** Johann Sebastian Bach, public domain. Prelude from *Das Wohltemperierte Klavier* I (1722).
- **Harmony:** Mark Gotham et al., *When in Rome*, CC BY-SA 4.0, commit 1c61fe4,
  https://github.com/MarkGotham/When-in-Rome, `Corpus/Keyboard_Other/Bach,_Johann_Sebastian/The_Well-Tempered_Clavier_I/08/analysis.txt`.
  The Roman numerals were converted to absolute chord symbols, so this harmony is an adaptation and is shared alike.