French Suites (Bach)

Style#

The suites were later given the name ‘French’ (first recorded usage by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg in 1762). Likewise, the English Suites received 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.” There is no surviving definitive manuscript of these suites, and ornamentation varies both in type and in degree across manuscripts. Some manuscripts have movements not found in other copies. These movements are probably spurious.

Suite No. 4 in E major, BWV 815#

Suite No. 4 also exists in an alternative version, published as BWV 815a, which includes three additional movements: a Prelude, a second Gavotte and a Menuet.

Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816#

The first few bars of this suite were written in 1722 for Bach’s second wife, but it was not completed until 1723. The Gigue, as often, is in fugal style, in binary form. The voices enter in descending order (Soprano-Alto-Bass), while in the second half of the piece the voices not only enter in opposite order but also an inversion of the 1st subject.

Legacy#

The Minuet from Suite No. 3 in B-minor BWV 814 was provided as one of three soundtrack options in Nintendo’s Game Boy version of Tetris.

See also#

• Works for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach
• Partitas, BWV 825–830
• English Suites, BWV 806–811
• Bach compositions printed during the composer’s lifetime

External links#

• French Suites , Mutopia Project (free sheet music)
• Liner notes for recording by Angela Hewitt
• Liner notes for recording by Julian Perkins
• Liner notes for recording by Masaaki Suzuki