Prelude and fugue

In classical music, many composers have written a set of preludes and fugues in most or all of the 24 major and minor keys. The use of this format is generally inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's two books of preludes and fugues—The Well-Tempered Clavier—completed in 1722 and 1744 respectively. Bach, however, was not the first to compose such a set: Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer wrote a 20-key cycle in his 1702 work Ariadne musica.

Works

The following works employ, sometimes loosely, the prelude-and-fugue format.

Composers of

The composers listed below, who lived and composed in the 19th and 20th centuries, employed this format.