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One of my favourites from Book II.
The Well-Tempered Clavier (German: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier),[2] BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. He first gave the title to a book of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, dated 1722, composed “for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.” Bach later compiled a second book of the same kind, dated 1742, but titled it only “Twenty-four Preludes and Fugues.” The two works are now usually considered to make up a single work, The Well-Tempered Clavier, or “the 48,” and are referred to respectively as Books I and II.[3] The Well-Tempered Clavier is generally regarded as one of the most influential works in the history of Western classical music.[3]
The nickname, which was never used by the composer himself but was introduced only early in the 19th century, originates from a story about how Scarlatti came up with the strikingly unusual motif on which the fugue is built. Legend has it that Scarlatti had a pet cat called Pulcinella, who was described by the composer as prone to walking across the keyboard, always curious about its sounds.
On one occasion, according to the story, Scarlatti wrote down a phrase from one of these “improvisation sessions”, and used it as a lead motif in a fugue:
The nickname was used in concert programmes in the 19th Century (see Performances section below), and was also used by publishers including Muzio Clementi, Carl Czerny and Alessandro Longo.[1]
Influence
The piece was published in London in 1739. George Frideric Handel, famous for his reuse of his own music and ‘borrowings’ from the works of others, wrote his Grand Concertos, Op. 6 between late September and late October 1739 and the strange descending intervals of the second movement of No. 3 are reminiscent of Scarlatti’s piece.[2] Early 19th century theorist and composer Anton Reicha knew the work and wrote a fugue on the same subject for his 36 Fugues of 1803.[3]
Who says you cannot have fun with classical choral repertoire?
Singers: Anita Rywalska, Renata Drozd, Marcin Pomykała, Kamil Pękala tackle Orff, Mercury and ABBA. :>
This piece is lively, bright and exciting. Not to mention way beyond my technical ability, but I love it anyways. :)
Take a baroque and enjoy some Bach ;)
I want to sing this so very badly.
Story behind the song:
There are few “hooks” in the movie-music world that are as grabby as the Bourne Identity Soundtrack riff (starts at 0:29). Like the movie series, its intensity commands attention. We just had to figure out a way to use it. In our usual style, we thought we’d create an “action movie soundtrack” that combined this and a piece of classical music. In the early 1700’s Antonio Vivaldi wrote a concerto for an instrument that was then largely “undiscovered” by the music world — the cello. Among the first cello solo pieces ever written, Vivaldi was gutsy enough to write it for not only one, but TWO solo cellos and string orchestra. With no “action movies” in the 1700’s, this piece was probably the closest you could get to one. It has intense and exciting moments between beautiful lyrical moments. It was this piece, among others, that got Steven (the cello guy) excited about classical music—it was one of the first pieces he played with orchestra.
90% of this tune was written in 3 days. We worked on it day and night because it was so enjoyable to write.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
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