J.S. Bach - The Six French Suites, BWV 812-817 (1722)

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations as well as for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Please support my channel: Uploaded with special permission by performer Peter Watchorn The Suites were realized by copyist Johann Christoph Altnikol (1719–1759) who used Bach’s original manuscripts. The C minor Prelude BWV 999 was done by copyist Johann Peter Kellner (1705-1772) French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812 1. Prelude (BWV 875a) (0:00) 2. Allemande (1:46) 3. Courante (6:04) 4. Sarabande (8:27) 5. Minuet 1 – Minuet 2 – Minuet 1 da capo (11:30) 6. Gigue (15:25) French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813 1. Prelude (BWV 999) (19:12) 2. Allemande (20:34) 3. Courante (24:36) 4. Sarabande (26:53) 5. Air (30:33) 6. Minuet 1 – Minuet 2 – Minuet 1 da capo (32:29) 7. Gigue (36:49) French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814 1. Prelude (BWV 923) (39:30) 2. Allemande (43:56) 3. Courante (48:37) 4. Sarabande (51:20) 5. Anglaise (54:43) 6. Minuet 1 – Minuet 2 – Minuet 1 da capo (56:35) 7. Gigue (1:00:11) French Suite No. 4 in E flat major, BWV 815 1. Prelude (1:02:59) 2. Allemande (1:05:32) 3. Courante (1:09:53) 4. Sarabande (1:11:21) 5. Gavotte – Gavotte 2 – Gavotte 1 da capo (1:14:47) 6. Minuet (1:21:43) 7. Air (1:24:30) 8. Gigue (1:25:28) French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816 1. Prelude (BWV 902a) (1:28:39) 2. Allemande (1:30:01) 3. Courante (1:33:58) 4. Sarabande (1:35:56) 5. Gavotte (1:41:00) 6. Bourrée (1:42:24) 7. Loure (1:43:54) 8. Gigue (1:46:14) French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817 1. Prelude (BWV 855/i) (1:50:20) 2. Allemande (1:52:09) 3. Courante (1:56:04) 4. Sarabande (1:58:09) 5. Gavotte (2:01:34) 6. Polonaise (2:02:59) 7. Bourrée (2:04:41) 8. Gigue (2:06:37) 9. Minuet (2:09:42) Peter Watchorn, harpsichord (ZUCKERMANN HARPSICHORDS INTERNATIONAL, Stonington, CT, 2009 after Christian Vater, 1738) Description by James Reel Bach’s Six French Suites aren’t particularly French, and there are actually eight of them. The standard set consists of BWV 812-817, but the freestanding suites in A minor, BWV 818, and E flat major, BWV 819, contended for inclusion in this group during Bach’s lifetime, probably in place of the standard fifth and sixth suites. Bach never published any of this music; he revised it heavily throughout his life and seemed particularly dissatisfied with BWV 818 and 819. Not until Bach biographer Johann Forkel prepared an edition in the early nineteenth century did BWV 812-817 become widely available and known by the collective title “French.“ True, Bach gave each of the dance movements a French title, but only a few of these are really French dances. It was Forkel who declared that they were “written in the French taste,“ by which he meant an emphasis on tunefulness and consonant harmony rather than good German structure and counterpoint. Although the suites offer some technical challenges, they are easier to play than much of Bach’s other keyboard music and they soon became favorites of piano teachers. Ignoring the two “outsider“ suites, each of the works adheres to the same basic format. First comes a fairly solemn Allemande, a German dance, followed by an Italian courante and a Spanish sarabande. Each suite ends with a quasi-English gigue. Yet Bach does more than merely plug a new tune into a standard dance rhythm; each piece employs a different texture or metrical scheme. Between the sarabande and gigue fall several other dances, usually at least a pair of minuets. That’s the pattern established by Suite No. 1 in D minor. Suite No. 2 in C minor varies only by inserting a hummable air after the sarabande; the same spot is occupied in Suite No. 3 in B minor by a so-called Anglaise, which is actually a gavotte. Suite No. 4 in E flat major synthesizes the patterns of its two immediate predecessors; the central movement is now explicitly called gavotte, and the first minuet is replaced by an air (these airs, by the way, are much livelier than the famously serene air from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3). Suite No. 5 in G major also includes a gavotte and replaces the minuets with a highly French pairing of bourrée and loure. The widely traveled Suite No. 6 in E major separates the gavotte from the final gigue with a polonaise, minuet, and bourrée.