I am writing today’s post at the piano, because after mentally struggling through this C minor fugue, I don’t have the energy to go to a desk and I feel the need to see the piano keys to write. Why is this fugue so hard? One answer could be that with our umpteenth day of rainy dark weather, one finds many things difficult. Another is that C minor is a relatively easy key, but in keeping with my theory regarding Bach’s Hard-Key Easy-Fugue and vice versa, this fugue was a bear. I find it hard to hear where it’s going, with sharp key turns that are not set up with obvious leading notes or chords. It ends on a minor chord (many of Bach’s minor pieces end with a “picardy third” into the parallel (or same-key) major for the last chord). The prelude wasn’t easy either, but most of that was a fingering issue, not complexity. Setting up the heavy minor of the fugue, the prelude also ended on a minor chord — a dark piece, for a dark day.