Prelude and Fugue in E-flat BWV 552 (St. Anne): Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Hunsberger's arrangement honors Bach's original keyboard writing while unlocking colors and textures impossible on a single instrument. The wind band medium gives each voice genuine independence and presence, letting students hear the counterpoint with crystalline clarity rather than as a dense keyboard texture. A work of this stature and craftsmanship elevates any concert program and asks your ensemble to engage with some of the most sophisticated musical thinking ever written.

Architecturally grand and introspective by turns. The prelude unfolds in stately harmonic language with moments of ornamental flourish, while the fugue builds intellectual momentum through accumulated voices and rhythmic propulsion, culminating in a sense of harmonic resolution that feels inevitable and earned.

Concert bands at the upper-intermediate level and beyond who are ready to tackle dense counterpoint and multi-voice independence. Directors seeking a substantial masterwork arrangement that challenges without overwhelming, and ensembles competing at festival or concert venues.

• Balance the inner voices during the prelude's harmonic progressions. The richness of this work depends on hearing all four parts distinctly, not just soprano and bass.
• Shape the fugal subject with a single arc across its entire phrase rather than breaking it into smaller gestures. Bach wrote it as one continuous thought.
• Allow slight breathing room between the prelude and fugue, even though they're connected movements. The structural shift deserves a moment to register with the audience.
• Maintain rhythmic precision without mechanical rigidity in the fugue's stile concertato passages. The interplay between parts should feel conversational, not metronomic.

Anchor a concert program featuring other Baroque and Classical works, or position it as a centerpiece that demonstrates your ensemble's technical sophistication. The work's substantial length and formal completeness make it suitable as a standalone feature rather than a filler piece, and its pedagogical rigor recommends it for festival adjudication contexts where judges expect substantive repertoire.

• Sustaining independent melodic lines while tracking harmonic progression
• Reading and executing counterpoint across multiple voice ranges simultaneously
• Balancing four-part texture to ensure inner voices carry equal weight
• Maintaining rhythmic cohesion through fugal exposition, development, and recapitulation
• Responding to baroque articulation and phrasing conventions