Rethinking WTC: a new interpretation of the Well-Tempered Clavier by J. S. Bach through the prism of the theory of Boleslav Javorsky
Authors: Natalya Pasichnyk  
Published: December 2022

In this project I sought to get new insights into the interpretational process, to make a contribution to the renewal of methods of working with a musical text, to find a new way to communicate meaning found in music, to broaden the role of the pianist to a co-creative one, and to unfold a new facet of the understanding of the Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach.

The initial inspiration for this project came from the theory of the Ukrainian-born musicologist Boleslaw Javorsky (1877-1942), the main sense of which can be formulated as: the main foundation of the Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) is the protestant chorales, and that the WTC is an artistic interpretation of images and plots of the Bible.

The use of metaphors, images and narrative is important as a way of working with music for many musicians. For me this way of thinking has always been the most important working method, along with the wide range of other elements within my individual working processes, which inform my artistic practice. I intended to go further and through the creative process during this project develop a new methodological approach in working with the music text. I call the process in search for meaning in preludes and fugues.

I try in this project to tell the story of my personal understanding of this iconic piece, often called the pianist's Bible. The story presented is not merely a descriptive Bible story, but rather a personal reflection over our existence.

My working process began with trying to find and understand the connection between words in the chorales as well as other vocal works of Bach, and the music text of WTC. When analysing the found connection, each prelude and fugue receives a concrete semantic meaning. I decided to place the pieces chronologically according to the meaning I found, so that the entire WTC becomes a unified coherent story, instead of a collection of 48 separate pieces.

I did not attempt to imitate the way of performing that was common during Bach's time, but rather to use all the advantages of the keyboard instrument of our time and all the expressive means it offers to share my findings. By experimenting with interweaving the motives of vocal music with WTC's music texture, I wanted to make my understanding of the genesis of the piece audible, but also to embed my reflections into my playing. It also broadened the role of the pianist to a more co-creative one, which was the common practice in Bach's time, but in an entirely different way. In other words, my intention was to make my interpretation historically informed, but to be faithful to the spirit of the time, rather than to the letter of the time.

The legendary Bach scholar Albert Schweitzer wrote about WTC: "What is gripping, is not the shape, or the structure of the pieces, but the worldview reflected in them". To make my understanding of this worldview audible to all listeners, and to invite them to immerse themselves into Bach’s spiritual universe (where the music's aim is the “recreation of the spirit”), is the overall goal of the project. Bach’s faith generated his music, and so I hope that this music can in turn generate faith, which we need in our current times more than ever.