Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, book 2.

Add. 35021. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, book 2. 21 of the 24 preludes and fugues of the second book of the ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’, BWV 870-872, 875-880, 882-893. All the music is in the hand of the composer, with the exception of the preludes and fugues in C minor, D minor, E major and G major, and part of the F major prelude (f. 8r), which are in the hand of his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach.

Unrestricted

Bequeathed by Eliza Wesley to the British Museum in 1896; the same year, the British Museum purchased the leaf with the E major prelude and fugue (f. 22) from Clarissa Clarke.

Digitised version available at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_35021

1 vol. ff. 22. 290-340 x 395-404 mm. Six distinct watermarks: hammer and anvil; Schönburg coat of arms; two-headed eagle; three lilies with unicorn (f. 13 only); two-headed eagle with sceptre (f. 15 only); two-headed eagle with letters HR (f. 20 only).

Probably inherited by Bach’s son Wilhelm Friedemann in 1750; acquired by Muzio Clementi in London in c.1820-1; bought at auction by John George Emett, and inherited by his son John Sebastian Wilmot Emett in 1847, who sold the MS at Christie’s in ca. 1859 when it was bought by Clarissa Sarah Clarke (née Douglas). In 1879, 20 of the 21 preludes and fugues were sold by Clarissa Clarke to Sarah Harriet Emett, and one leaf, containing the prelude and fugue in E major, was retained by Clarissa Clarke. In 1891 the MS was bequeathed by Sarah Emett to Eliza Wesley.

Add MS 35022: letters and documents relating to the history of Add MS 35021.

See Johann Sebastian Bach, Das Wohltemperierte Clavier II: facsimile of the autograph manuscript in the British Library, Add. Ms. 35021, British Library Music Facsimiles, 1 (London, 1980).