French Suites, BWV 812-817

The "French Suites", BWV 812-817, refer to six suites which Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the clavier (harpsichord or clavichord) between the years of 1722 and 1725 [Bach. "The French Suites: Embellished version". Barenreiter Urtext] . The suites were later given the name 'French' (first recorded usage by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg in 1762) as a means of contrast with the "English Suites" (whose title is likewise a later appellation). The name was popularised by Bach's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, who wrote in his 1802 biography of Bach, "One usually calls them French Suites because they are written in the French manner." [Bach. "The French Suites: Embellished version". Barenreiter Urtext] This claim, however, is inaccurate: like Bach's other suites, they follow a largely Italian convention. [Christophe Rousset, notes to the recording of the "French Suites", Ambroisie AMB9942] .

There is no surviving "definitive" manuscript of these suites, and ornamentation varies both in type and in degree across manuscripts. [Bach. "The French Suites: Embellished version". Barenreiter Urtext]

Two additional suites, one in A minor (BWV 818), the other in E-flat Major (BWV 819), are linked to the familiar six in some manuscripts. The "Overture in the French style", BWV 831, which Bach published as the second part of Clavier-Übung, is a suite in the French style but not connected to the "French suites". [Although see the discussion of French influences in Hans-Joachim Schulze, "The French Influence in Bach's Instrumental Music", Early Music, 13:2, 1985 ("J. S. Bach Tercentenary Issue", 180-184.]

The French suites

uite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812

#Allemande
#Courante
#Sarabande
#Menuet I/II
#Gigue

Although Suites 1-4 are typically dated to 1722, it is possible that this suite was written even somewhat earlier [Bach. "The French Suites: Embellished version". Barenreiter Urtext]

uite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813

#Allemande
#Courante
#Sarabande
#Air
#Menuet
#Menuet - Trio (in BWV 813a)
#Gigue

uite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814

#Allemande
#Courante
#Sarabande
#Menuet
#Trio
#Anglaise -- Bach originally titled this movement Gavotte (a dance type very similar to the Angloise). He may have changed the name because this movement lacks the gavotte's characteristic two quarter-note upbeat. [Bach. "The French Suites: Embellished version". Barenreiter Urtext]
#Gigue

uite No. 4 in E-flat major, BWV 815

#Praeludium (in BWV 815a)
#Allemande
#Courante
#Sarabande
#Gavotte
#Air
#Gavotte I, Gavotte II (in BWV 815a)
#Menuet (in BWV 815a)

uite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816

#Allemande
#Courante
#Sarabande
#Gavotte
#Bourrée
#Loure
#Gigue

The first few bars of this suite were written in 1722, but it was not completed until 1723.

uite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817

#Allemande
#Courante
#Sarabande
#Gavotte
#Polonaise
#Bourrée
#Menuet
#Gigue

ee also

* Works for keyboard by J.S. Bach
* Partitas, BWV 825-830
* English Suites, BWV 806-811
* Bach compositions printed during the composer's lifetime

Notes and references

External links

*
* [http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?collection=bachfr&preview=1 French suites in Mutopia Project (free sheet music)]
* [http://www.music.qub.ac.uk/~tomita/essay/FrSuites-e.html liner notes] for recording by Masaaki Suzuki