| English Suites, Bwv 806-811 |
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| compositions by johann sebastian bach | |
| compositions for keyboard | |
| compositions for harpsichord | |
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HISTORY These six Suite s for keyboard are thought to be the earliest set that Bach composed. Originally, their date of composition was thought to have been between 1718 and 1720 , but more recent research suggests that the composition was likely earlier, around 1715 , while the composer was living in Weimar . Bach was obliged to write a new Cantata every week during his time at the Weimar court, and the English Suites he composed at this time express Bach's longing for new, instrumental music and held therefore a very special place in Bach's life and work. Later in Köthen and Leipzig he worked on a full-time basis with professional orchestras, providing him an ideal context in which to create orchestral and purely instrumental compositions. Like the French Suites , the use of the term ''English'' to describe the Suites was a later addition. The name is thought to date back to a claim made by the nineteenth-century Bach biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel that they were composed for an English nobleman, although no evidence has emerged to substantiate this claim. There are several striking characteristics about the English Suites. Bach includes a highly virtuosic Prelude for each, in a departure from the prevailing tradition dictating a strict progression of the dance movements ( Allemande , Courante , Sarabande and Gigue ). By comparison, the later French Suites and Partita s are less strict in form. The Sarabande and Gigue movements in each of the English Suites is never separated by more than a single (twinned) Menuet or Menuet-like movement. Finally, the English Suites are predominantly in the minor key. THE SIX ENGLISH SUITES
: Prelude , Allemande , Courante I, Courante II, Sarabande , Bourrée I, Bourrée II, Gigue
:Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande , Bourrée I, Bourrée II, Gigue
:Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte I, Gavotte II, Gigue
:Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Menuet I, Menuet II, Gigue
:Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Passepied I, Passepied II, Gigue
:Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte I, Gavotte II, Gigue Note that the key sequence follows the same series of notes as the chorale ' Jesu, Meine Freude '; this is unlikely to be accidental. MEDIA SEE ALSO
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