JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - French Suite No. 5 in G, BWV 816 (1722-1724)

In addition to composing and performing, Bach was a sought-after and influential keyboard teacher. He was passionate about musical education; therefore, he composed works specifically for his pupils. According to Bach’s student Heinrich Gerber, the maestro used his Inventions, French Suites, English Suites, and the Well-Tempered Clavier to teach keyboard technique, improvisation, and composition to form a progressive course. Anna Magdalena Bach (née Wilcke), whom he married in late 1721, was the dedicatee of the first five French Suites. These suites, including French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816, form the opening items in Clavierbüchlein (1722) for AN Bach. Despite the nature as teaching tools, the degree of elaboration and emphasis on counterpoint of these suites go beyond those of other suites of Bach’s contemporaries. 

Bach titled the French Suites Suites pour le Clavecin and they were not given the name “French” until later. The designation French associated with these works are misleading as they display a rich stylistic mix. All the movements are French dances, but the order is Germanic – allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, with other dances inserted between the sarabande and gigue. Italian elements are also present in this G-major suite, such as the two-part writing in Italian instrumental style, the use of Italian ornamentation, etc. 

In this work, Bach skilfully balances originality and convention, freedom of inventing and received characteristics of different traditional dance types. It combines Bach's most tuneful and elegant style, new for the genre, with the most faithful stylization of the dances. The suite begins with Allemande, a very cantabile and melodious dance movement. It sets the tone of the entire work with its long lines and processional character. Then, it is Courante. Although it is a French term, it is an amiable and lively dance in the Italian florid style. Followed by is Sarabande which illustrates what eventually became the texture Bach favoured for slow movements: beautifully ornamented melody against two left-hand accompanying parts. The dotted rhythms scattered across the melody are new to Bach’s sarabandes, but would be much exploited thereafter. After the slow, lyrical and highly ornamental sarabande the audience favourite – Gavotte. It is a relatively technically simple movement with an easy-to-remember melody. In Bourrée which comes next, Bach challenges left hand’s mobility of the keyboardist. It races along below the simple rhythm of the right hand. Next, it is one of the two surviving loure of Bach, with the well-known one from Partita No. 3 in E for Solo Violin, BWV 1006 being the other one. The suite closes in a brilliant way with the extensively written gigue. It is the most famous and technically demanding movement of all six French Suites. This fast and playful three-part fugue sounds as if a combination of Vivaldi and a carnival.