Classical Music | Piano Music

Johann Sebastian Bach

Ouverture, Courante, Gigue from Partita No. 4 BWV 828  Play

John Ferguson Piano

Recorded on 06/25/2003, uploaded on 01/24/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

J.S. Bach:  Partita No. 4 in D major BWV 828:

Clavier player, organist, violinist, singer, court musician, devout Lutheran, and father of twenty children, Johann Sebastian Bach may also have been the most astonishingly gifted composer of all time.  His music for keyboard instruments includes cornerstones of the repertoire, including the "Goldberg" Variations, Art of the Fugue, The Well-Tempered Clavier, and three sets of suites:  six English Suites, six French Suites, and six Partitas, published in 1731.  Each Partita consists of a prelude followed by a series of two-part dance movements; in the case of the Fourth Partita, there are seven such movements, from which I have excerpted the following for this performance:

Ouverture-a typical French Overture beginning with a majestic slow introduction followed by a faster fugal section.

Courante- French dance in triple meter, a slow 3/2 time as opposed to the more lively Italian Corrente (usually in 3/4 or 3/8).

Gigue-a very lively dance, often in triple meter, here in 9/16.  The Gigue ("Jig") originated in Ireland and England.