The ''English Suites'', BWV 806–811, are a set of six suites written by the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach for

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

(or clavichord) and generally thought to be the earliest of his 19 suites for keyboard (discounting several less well-known earlier suites), the others being the six French Suites (BWV 812–817), the six

Partitas Partita (also ''partie'', ''partia'', ''parthia'', or ''parthie'') was originally the name for a single-instrumental piece of music (16th and 17th centuries), but Johann Kuhnau (Thomaskantor until 1722), his student Christoph Graupner, and Johann ...

(BWV 825-830) and the Overture in the French style (BWV 831). They probably date from around 1713 or 1714.

History

These six suites for keyboard are thought to be the earliest set that Bach composed aside from several miscellaneous suites written when he was much younger. Bach's English Suites display less affinity with Baroque English keyboard style than do the French Suites to French Baroque keyboard style. It has also been suggested that the name is a tribute to

Charles Dieupart Charles Dieupart (1676 - 1751) was a French harpsichordist, violinist, and composer. Although he was known as Charles to his contemporaries according to some biographers, his real name was actually François. He was most probably born in Paris, bu ...

, whose fame was greatest in England, and on whose ''Six Suittes de clavessin'' Bach's English Suites were in part based.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954,

Eric Blom Eric Walter Blom (20 August 188811 April 1959) was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, music critic and writer. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1954). Biogr ...

, ed. Surface characteristics of the English Suites strongly resemble those of Bach's French Suites and Partitas, particularly in the sequential dance-movement structural organization and treatment of ornamentation. These suites also resemble the Baroque French keyboard suite typified by the generation of composers including

Jean-Henri d'Anglebert Jean-Henri d'Anglebert ( baptized 1 April 1629 – 23 April 1691) was a French composer, harpsichordist and organist. He was one of the foremost keyboard composers of his day. Life D'Anglebert's father Claude Henry known as AnglebertJean const ...

, and the dance-suite tradition of French

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

nists that preceded it. In the English Suites especially, Bach's affinity with French lute music is demonstrated by his inclusion of a

prelude Prelude may refer to: Music *Prelude (music), a musical form *Prelude (band), an English-based folk band *Prelude Records (record label), a former New York-based dance independent record label *Chorale prelude, a short liturgical composition for ...

for each suite, departing from an earlier tradition of German derivations of French suite (those of Johann Jakob Froberger and

Georg Boehm Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: People * George (given name) * G ...

are examples), which saw a relatively strict progression of the dance movements ( Allemande,

Courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...

Sarabande The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance cal ...

and Gigue) and which did not typically feature a Prelude. Unlike the unmeasured preludes of French lute or keyboard style, however, Bach's preludes in the English Suites are composed in strict meter.

The suites

The six suites are: #Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV 806
#Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807
#Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV 808
#

Suite No. 4 in F major, BWV 809
#Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810
#Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811
This first suite is unusual in that it has two courantes and two doubles for the second courante. This suite also departs from the scheme of the other five, in that the prelude is short and based on a theme from a suite by Dieupart. The preludes of the other five suites in this series are based on the allegro of a concerto grosso form. The key sequence follows the same series of notes as the chorale " Jesu, meine Freude"; it is unestablished whether or not this is accidental.

Notable recordings

On harpsichord

* Wanda Landowska (No. 2, 3 & 5, Pearl, 1928–35) * Ralph Kirkpatrick (Archiv Produktion, 1956) *

Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters. Blind since his teenage years, he is known f ...

(EMI Electrola, 1959) *

Martin Galling Martin Galling (born 1935 in Halle (Saale)) is a German pianist, harpsichordist and chamber musician. Galling first took cello lessons and studied the piano from 1945 at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Mainz with Louise Wandel. He studied at ...

(Murray Hill, 1970 ecorded in 1964 * Kenneth Gilbert (Harmonia Mundi, 1981) * Zuzana Růžičková (Supraphon/Eterna, 1981) *

Christiane Jaccottet Christiane Jaccottet (born Christiane Wachsmuth, Lausanne, Switzerland 18 May 1937; died Rivaz, 26 October 1999) was a harpsichordist who recorded the works of many composers including Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July ...

(Saphir/Disky, 1982) *

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

(Virgin, 1984) * Huguette Dreyfus (Archiv Produktion, 1974, 1990) * Colin Tilney (Music&Arts, 1993) * Trevor Pinnock (Archiv Production, 1992) *

Peter Watchorn Peter Watchorn (born 30 May 1957) is an Australian-born harpsichordist who has combined a virtuosic keyboard technique, musical scholarship and practical experience in the construction of harpsichords copied from original instruments of the 17th ...

(Musica Omnia, 1997) *

Pascal Dubreuil Pascal Dubreuil (born c. 1970) is a French harpsichordist, a teacher and a specialist of musical rhetoric. Biography After several years study with Yannick le Gaillard, Pascal Dubreuil was awarded diplomas in both harpsichord and basso contin ...

(Ramée, 2013) * Ketil Haugsand (Simax Classics, 2014)

On piano

* Walter Gieseking (Nos. 2–4 & 6, Music & Arts, 1950) *

Alexander Borovsky Alexander Borovsky (Borowsky) (1889-1968), a Russian-American pianist, was born in Mitau, Russia. His first piano teacher was his mother, a pupil of Vasily Safonov. He completed his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1912 with a gold med ...

(Vox, 1952) * Tatiana Nikolayeva (Nos. 1 & 4, Scribendum, 1965) *

Friedrich Gulda Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields. Biography Early life and career Born in Vienna the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano ...

(Nos. 2 & 3, Andante, 1969–70) *

Wilhelm Kempff Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations ...

(No. 3, Deutsche Grammophon, 1975) * Glenn Gould (Columbia/Sony, 1977) * Mieczysław Horszowski (No. 3, Pearl, 1979; No. 2, Arbiter, 1984; No. 5, RCA Japan, 1987) * Ivo Pogorelić (Nos. 2 & 3, Deutsche Grammophon, 1985) *

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...

(Decca, 1988, 2003 Live in Hungary) *

Wolfgang Rübsam Wolfgang Friedrich Rübsam (born October 16, 1946, in Gießen) is a German-American organist, pianist, composer and pedagogue. Biography After his musical training with Erich Ackermann in Fulda, Germany, Rübsam studied at the Musikhochschule ...

(Naxos, 1995) *

João Carlos Martins João Carlos Gandra da Silva Martins (); born June 25, 1940, in Sao Paulo, Brazil) is an acclaimed Brazilian classical pianist and conductor, who has performed with leading orchestras in the United States, Europe and Brazil. He is celebrated a ...

(Concord Concerto / Labor Records / Tomato Music, 1995–1996) * Rosalyn Tureck (No. 3, Video Artists International, 1993) *

Murray Perahia Murray David Perahia () (born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He is widely considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. Kno ...

(Sony Classics, 1997) * Robert Levin (Hänssler, 1999) * Martha Argerich (No. 2, Deutsche Grammophon, 1979) *

Ivo Janssen Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...

(Void, 2000) * Angela Hewitt (Hyperion, 2003) * Sviatoslav Richter, (Delos, 2004) *

Vladimir Feltsman Vladimir Oskarovich Feltsman (russian: Владимир Оскарович Фельцман, ''Vladimir Oskarovič Feltsman'' (born 8 January 1952) is a Russian-American classical pianist of Lithuanian Jewish descent particularly noted for his devo ...

(Nimbus, 2005) *

Ramin Bahrami Ramin or Rameen, transliterated from Rāmin (Persian: رامین), is a Persian masculine given name of Zoroastrian origin. It is also an occasional surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Ramin Bahrani, Iranian-American writ ...

(Decca, 2012) *

Piotr Anderszewski Piotr Anderszewski () (born 1969) is a Polish pianist and composer. Biographical background Anderszewski was born in Warsaw, Poland. His father's family was part of Poland's aristocracy while his mother came from a Jewish Hungarian family. He s ...

(No. 6, Accord, 1996)) *

(No. 6, Erato/Warner Classics, 2004) *

(Nos. 1, 3 & 5, Warner Classics, 2014)

On cello

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

(No. 5, Columbia Masterworks, 1950)

Media

References

External links

*
English Suite No. 1English Suite No. 2English Suite No. 3
an
English Suite No. 4
performances by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information) {{authority control Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach Compositions for harpsichord 1715 compositions he:רשימת יצירות באך#סוויטות אנגליות (לכלי מקלדת) (806-811)