The Six French Suites (BWV 812-817) Embellished version (Piano)

J S Bach The Six French Suites (BWV 812-817) Embellished version (Piano)

The origin of the title of the French Suites, composed during 1722-1725, is unclear.  Such a title occurs neither in Bach's writings or in the earlier copies of the suites; yet Friedrich-Wilhelm Marpurg mentions it in 1762 as if it were commonly known.  Forkel writes in his biography of Bach (1802) "One usually calls them French Suites because they are written in the French manner"; yet this criterion could just as well be applied to the so-called English Suites.  Perhaps the name originated by analogy with the "English Suites" which (according to Forkel) were "composed for an aristocratic Englishman".  Thus, after composing the English Suites, Bach may have wished to entitle his next collection of suites in a matching or complementary fashion, and so chose the name of the nation that had been preeminent in suite composition.  In any case there was never an attempt in the earlier literature to trace the title of the French Suites back to any Frenchman's commission.

Drawn from the urtext of the New Bach Edition, this performing edition contains the popular embellished version of the French Suites in a separate volume.  It is specially designed to meet the needs of piano teachers.  It also contains instructive facsimiles and a table of ornaments.  A detailed preface by the renowned Bach scholar Alfred Dürr provides information on the genesis and sources of the work and the musical characters of the dances.

- Urtext of the New Bach Edition

- Comprehensive preface (Ger/Eng)