The Well-Tempered Clavier 300th Anniversary Recording Project
Ars Lyrica Houston celebrated the 300th anniversary of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (1722) with a first-of-its-kind project: a video recording of the entire volume to feature a single performer on an instrument inspired by those from Bach’s own environment, with commentary from the performer, who is also a leading scholar of this music. The harpsichord, with its elaborate marquetry and decoration in the style of Baroque Dresden, is an ideal match for the sumptuous interiors of Rienzi, the house museum for European decorative arts of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Three recording sessions with music and commentary professionally recorded by Bend Productions, LLC and Shannon Smith featured different parts of the museum, giving visual variety to the entire project, and two intimate live performances at Rienzi transported audiences back in time.
On this page, you will find all our WTC resources, including:
Link to purchase a hard copy double disc CD
Biweekly Bach episodes, with commentary by Matthew Dirst
Individual movements on Youtube
Written and spoken commentary on each movement and the legacy of the composer and work
Archive of concert photos
And more!
Official album release
March 5, 2024 marked the official release of our latest CD: Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, performed by Artistic Director Matthew Dirst on solo harpsichord. The recording is available now on all streaming platforms and as a hard-copy double CD.
The album release on the Acis label celebrates the culmination of a multi-year project celebrating 300 years of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. We are thrilled to release those recordings of all twenty-four preludes and fugues from Book 1 now in a traditional album format - serving as "a glorious bookend to this inspiring artistic effort" (Geoffrey Silver, founder of Acis).
To listen, purchase a hard copy of the double CD, or listen online for free on Spotify, Amazon Music, and more!
This project is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.
Project Celebration: Panel Zoom
On Sunday, March 12, three leading Baroque experts – Ars Lyrica Houston Artistic Director Matthew Dirst, harpsichord builder John Phillips (Berkeley, California), and scholar David Yearsley (Cornell University) – facilitated a virtual discussion and celebration of the release of Matthew Dirst’s complete recordings of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1.
Biweekly Bach
Biweekly Bach is Ars Lyrica Houston’s newest virtual series, traversing the 24 preludes and fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Every other week, a new episode features two prelude and fugue pairs, recorded in the beautiful surroundings of Rienzi, the house museum for European decorative arts of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. With inspired playing and enlightening commentary by Matthew Dirst, this series brings audiences closer than ever to the masterful music of J.S. Bach.
J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (BWV 846-869) performed by Matthew Dirst on a single-manual harpsichord by John Phillips (Berkeley, 2021) after the work of the Gräbner family (Dresden, c1720). Video by BEND Productions, LLC. Audio by Shannon Smith.
Episode 1: C Major and A Minor
Episode 2: F Major and D Minor
Episode 3: B-Flat Major and G Minor
Episode 4: E-Flat Major and C Minor
Episode 5: C-Sharp Major and C-Sharp Minor
Episode 6: E Minor and A Major
Episode 7: F-Sharp Major and F-Sharp Minor
Episode 8: G Major and F Minor
Episode 9: A-Flat Major and E-Flat Minor
Episode 10: D Major and B Minor
Episode 11: B Major and G-Sharp Minor
Episode 12: E Major and B-Flat Minor
Click the icon in the top right (three lines with play button triangle) to scroll between concert excerpts in the Biweekly Bach playlist.
Individual Movements
Listen to individual movements on this page. Click the icon in the top right (three lines with play button triangle) to scroll between concert excerpts in the The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 playlist.
On YouTube, each movement includes hyperlinks to Matthew Dirst’s commentary in the video description.
Written Resources
Read Matthew Dirst’s commentary on each movement in The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 and Professor of Music at Cornell University David Yearsley’s thoughts on the ongoing legacy of the volume.
The Well-Tempered Clavier at Rienzi
Two performances of excerpts from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 took place in person at Rienzi. These sold-out performances transported audiences back in time for a Baroque salon experience.
The Well-Tempered Clavier at Rienzi
October 16, 2021 at 6 PM and 7:30 PM
June 4, 2022 at 6 PM
Rienzi, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
About the artist
Ars Lyrica Artistic Director Matthew Dirst, recently described in the Washington Post as an “efficient, extremely precise conductor who has an ear for detail,” is the first American musician to win major international prizes in both organ and harpsichord, including the American Guild of Organists National Young Artist Competition and the Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition. Widely admired for his stylish playing and conducting, Dirst leads a period-instrument ensemble with several acclaimed recordings, one of which—J. A. Hasse’s Marc Antonio e Cleopatra—was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best Opera. His degrees include a PhD in musicology from Stanford University and the prix de virtuosité in both organ and harpsichord from the Conservatoire National de Reuil-Malmaison, France, where he spent two years as a Fulbright scholar. Equally active as a scholar and as an organist, Dirst is Professor of Music at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and Organist at St Philip Presbyterian Church in Houston. His publications include Engaging Bach: The Keyboard Legacy from Marpurg to Mendelssohn (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and Bach and the Organ (University of Illinois Press, 2016).
About the composer
J. S. Bach remains at the very center of European culture because his music is endlessly interesting, entertaining, and edifying; he is perhaps the most influential classical musician of all time. The Well-Tempered Clavier is the only work of Bach that never went out of style. Unlike his church and chamber works, which were mostly forgotten soon after his death in 1750, this collection served as a kind of musical Old Testament for generations of students and enthusiasts—a role it still plays today.
Comprising two sets of twenty-four preludes and fugues each in all the major and minor keys, the work was dedicated by the composer in 1722 “for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.” Ars Lyrica is proud to offer Bach programs on a regular basis and is delighted to offer this series of performances that celebrates the collection’s 300th anniversary.