Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 05/13/2005, uploaded on 10/03/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

French Suites     Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach's French Suites is a collection of six dance suites for the clavier and probably composed between 1722 and 1725, a few years after the composition of the English Suites and at the start of his time in Leipzig. As with the English Suites, the title "French" was not given to the collection by Bach. The first noted use of the term is by Friedrich Marpurg, a pupil of Bach, and it was made popular by Bach's biographer, Johann Forkel. While perhaps there are certain elements of a genuine "French" style, the name was likely given as a means of differentiating them from the so-called English Suites.

The French Suites follow a freer plan than their English counterparts. For starters, the French Suites do not follow a unifying key scheme as did the English Suites. Furthermore, the latter are more consistent in the presence of a prelude prior to the first dance and in inserting only one dance between the Sarabande and Gigue. In regards to a prelude, the French Suites dispense with it entirely and begin with the Allemande. However, each suite differs in the number and type of dances it contains, though each does possess the obligatory four dances-Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue. With the Baroque dance suite, it was left to the discretion of the composer as to which dances were interposed before the final dance. The first suite simply adds a minuet before the gigue. The second inserts an Air and a Minuet. The third through the fifth suites insert three dances. The third suite includes the unusual Angloise, an English country dance (ironically in the French Suites and not in the English Suites) and the fifth suite includes a Loure, a French dance originating in Normandy. Finally, the sixth suite inserts four dances, including a Polonaise, before the final Gigue.      Joseph DuBose