The Well-Tempered Ear

Solving the beautiful mathematics of Bach

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By Jacob Stockinger

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach (below) doesn’t just sound mathematical.

It IS mathematical.

And although fugues sound the most overtly mathematical of all Bach’s works, you can find complex mathematical and informational patterns to varying degrees in the preludes (below) and overtures, sonatas and partitas, cantatas and oratorios, concertos, suites and toccatas . (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear pianist and Bach specialist Andras Schiff play the long, complex and sublime Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 869, No. 24 from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier.

Here is the link to the story about physicists who solved Bach’s math that was featured in Scientific American:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/secret-mathematical-patterns-revealed-in-bachs-music

You can also hear plenty of Bach’s beautifully mathematical music live and online for FREE during the upcoming Bach Around the Clock (BATC) celebration of his birthday in Madison. It will take place March 6-10.

Here is a link to the schedule of performers and repertoire both in live performance and virtually online: