JS Bach, French Suite No 3

Maria Barbara, Johann Sebastian Bach's first wife, died at the age of 36, while the master was accompanying Prince Leopold, his patron at the court of Köthen, during a stay in the pleasant spa resort of Karlsbad, a meeting place for the German aristocracy. It was upon his return that he was met with the tragic news that left him a widower with four young children, twelve years old the eldest. He had to find a new mother for his children and a companion for himself.

Anna Magdalena
Shortly after a year, he found her as the daughter of a horn player, the 20-year-old soprano Anna Magdalena Wilcke, who, as soon as she saw him, was vividly attracted by the master's disposition, of whom, as she tells us, "it would be foolish to say he was beautiful" and who, moreover, was sixteen years her senior. They married in December 1721 and had 13 children. A happy union that Bach nurtured day by day. One night, on the eve of the first anniversary of their marriage, he quietly approached Anna Magdalena and placed before her "a little green bound book, with leather spine and corners".

JS Bach (alleged portrait)
(1685 - 1750)

The French Suites
On its first page, one could read the inscription Clavierbüchlein vor Anna Magdalena Bachin, Anno 1772, a collection of simple and charming compositions for harpsichord, of the most diverse genres, choral preludes, minuets, rondos, arias. A few years later, Bach was to rework and complete three of these pieces, giving rise to the first three suites of the famous French Suites – six in all –, works that are as French as the almost parallel English Suites are English. They were once published under the name of Suites pour le clavecin, which is probably the origin of their appellation.

Organization

As a whole, the structure of the six suites is entirely German, or better still, Italian, with its traditional four movements or dances: allemande – courante – sarabande – giga, to which are added, in between the sarabande and the giga, a variable number of supplementary movements such as a minuet, a gavotte, bourré, or an aria. Unlike the English suites, they do not include a prelude.

French Suite No 3, in B minor, BWV 814
Seccions:

00       Allemande 

03:28  Courante

05:17  Sarabanda 

07:56  Gavotte

09:18  Minueto I

10:25  Trio

11:21  Minueto II

11:56  Giga

The rendition is by the Hungarian pianist András Schiff, on the occasion of the Bach Festival (Bachfest) 2010, a classical music festival that takes place every year in Leipzig in June.