Elision and the Embellished Final Cadence in J. S. Bach's Preludes

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn a number of Bach's keyboard preludes, the final cadence is richly decorated by interpolated harmonies and melodic figuration, so that it superficially resembles an interrupted cadence. The present study explores Bach's techniques of embellishing such final cadences. Sometimes, the tonic note is elided and the leading note ‘resolves’ to the lowered seventh degree of the scale, as in the Prelude in C major from the Well‐Tempered Clavier, Book I. Another technique of embellishment is the interpolation of submediant and/or subdominant harmonies between dominant and tonic. A survey of Bach's oeuvre indicates that he wrote embellished final cadences exclusively in keyboard preludes and chorale‐based genres (including chorale preludes). A brief concluding discussion of embellished final cadences in works by later composers provides a broad context in which to appreciate the generic and historical significance of this phenomenon.