Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1741)
Suite in B minor BWV 1067

This is the second of the four suites composed by Bach during his stay in Köthen (1717-23). They were probably written before the final edition of the Brandenburg concertos.
In late Baroque, the suite (or „series”) was part of popular culture and a ceremonial form of court music. The model of dances put together as a cycle and preceded with an overture was established by Jean-Baptiste Lully, the composer of Louis XIV.
Bach’s suites, although written in the French spirit, are a fusion of styles characteristic for his oeuvre. The composer has further highlighted their provenience by calling them “overtures.” Each of the suites has parts of winds, the colour of which is also identified with the French style. In Suite in B minor, a flute concertante was added to the original string orchestra. The flute part is maintained together with that of the first violin; this gives the orchestra a peculiar hue.
The piece opens with an extended overture, the musical focus of the whole. Its form relates to Lully’s tripartite model. The slow, solemn initial part is based on punctuated rhythms and richly ornamented in the French fashion. A rapid and fuging middle part, with solo entries of the flute, follows in Italian concertante style. The final part reverts to the character and the motives of the introduction.
The cycle brings together dances of various origin, yet mostly with French roots. The suite canon has been treated with much freedom: of the four obligatory dances, only the sarabande is present. On the other hand, the original character of the dances is fairly well preserved. The first two, a reserved gavotte enclosed in a rondo form and the elevated, solemn sarabande come in intermediate-slow tempo and simple metre. A vivid and simple-time bourrée then precedes two dances in compound metre: a lofty polonaise and a noble minuet. The whole ends with a swift programme Badinerie (jest), with a virtuoso part of the flute.

Ewa Siemdaj