Prelude & Fugue in D minor

“This is the seventh of the 11 Preludes and Fugues in the Baroque Style for double bass solo I have written to date. This set of pieces was invented to fill the gap in the baroque era literature for the instrument, since the double bass as such was understood generally as a continuo group instrument. Yet, I was delighted to discover its polyphonic possibilities and that one is actually able to play and lead different voices on it. These two factors made me delve into the vast world of polyphony thus giving us, double bassists, music we never had before.

Prelude and Fugue no. 7 is dedicated to my dear friend and brilliant double bassist and pedagogue, David Heyes and has strong roots in English Baroque music. The Prelude is a piece following closely the idea of C.F. Abel’s famous Allegro in D minor WKO 205 for bass viol solo. Albeit the double bass doesn’t have this great number of strings, nor does it have frets, this composition, along with the Fugue, is a very good proof that apart from all the difficulties concerning playing such a big-sized instrument one can imitate playing a polyphonic instrument.” [Michal Bylina]