721. "Alright then", said the tutor, "Angela can come to the music lesson, but in return you must promise me that you will learn a Bach prelude to perfection, that way you can make your mother happy, and keep me from getting fired from my job.
722. The tutor picked out the perfect piece for Marie to learn, perhaps you are familiar with it, it is the very first prelude of the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. It is an unusual work, although it is very simple to play, and almost anyone could master it in a week or two, still it is profound and moving.
723. After the first prelude things get more and more complicated in the Well-Tempered Clavier, until you get to works so intricate and involved that the playing of them belongs only to those who are willing to give their life to the task. But as great as those works may be, they are not as moving or as perfect as that first prelude. The first prelude is like a perfectly formed child who will later grow up to be a Venus De Milo.
724. He played the first prelude slowly so that she could see that there was hardly a place where it is necessary to play two notes at the same time. At the end, where there are all those repeated low notes in the left hand he slowed down the tempo, and at the last chord that ends the little piece he looked Marie right in the eye. Marie nodded her head to indicate she understood what was being asked of her, it was a royal gesture, just like her mother.
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