Hi,

I own a copy of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II, Complete
(Dover 0-486-24532-2). My problem concerns the tempo of Book II,
Fugue 7, E-flat major:

Written in a "Note on Tempos", at the start of the book, is:

"Bach did not provide tempo indications for all of the preludes and
fugues in _The Well-Tempered Clavier_ . . . . The present Dover
edition provides . . . the tempo indications . . . suggested by Hans
Bischoff in his prestigious edition. . . . "

The tempo indicated for the fugue in question is "Moderato", where a
quarter note is given 63 beats per minute. I admit that this seems
quite slow! But the informal consort with which I am playing is
pacing it as a swift march, with a quarter note at about 132 per
minute. They seem to be quite happy to ignore my statement that it
is indicated at 63 beats per minute.

I merely do not want to violate Bach's intentions, if anybody happens
to know those. That "Bach did not provide tempo indications for all
of the preludes and fugues in _The Well-Tempered Clavier_" does *not*
say that he gave no indication of tempo for the fugue in question.

Can anybody educate me on all this, please?

Thanks! :-)

Steve Langford