Harpsichord pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach mainly originated in the years he spent in Weimar and Köthen. Yet the composer himself published those written later, in Leipzig; they included his partitas and his Goldberg Variations. The Leipzig cantor printed his first partita in 1726 and continued in the following years, publishing them in two parts of Klavierübung. “Übung” – as emphasized by Bach scholars – stands here not so much for “exercise” as for “entertainment” or “pleasure”. The second volume of the collection, published by Christoph Weigel in Nuremberg in 1735, was described by the composer as containing a Concerto (BWV 971) in Italian style and an Overture (BWV 831) in French style, both for harpsichord with two manuals.
Bach called his work Overture according to French style. He followed the lead of orchestral overtures by emphasizing the first movement, with its rapid fugued middle segment, enclosed within two sections of a more serious character. According to the suite model established in the Baroque, Partita in B minor (the usual name for the piece belonging to the genre of French suite) consists of the above-mentioned Overture and a series of stylized dances, nine in this case, crowned with Echo, an excellent example of two-manual harpsichord play.
The dancing movements of Partita are characteristic in the simplicity of texture and the directness of musical expression: the fine Courante, a dance that, according to Johann Mattheson, is fit to render the emotion of “sweet hope”, and two joyful gavottes neighbour on both minuet Passepieds, while an emotionally intensified Sarabande contrasts with two Bourées and a brilliant Gigue; the latter, to quote Shakespeare, should be “hot and hasty”. Bach supplied his Partita in B minor with markings of piano and forte. However, the contrasting sections are more extensive and the changes take place in key moments of the piece, highlighting the logical plan of its dramaturgy.

Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz