English Suite No.6 in D minor, BWV 811

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Gavottes I & II

Gigue

The six harpsichord suites that Bach wrote at some time during his period as court organist at Weimar, probably round about 1715, “were made,” according to the composer’s first biographer, “for an Englishman of rank.” That seems to be the only reason why they have come to be known as the “English” Suites. It is true that they differ from the later “French” Suites in that they all begin with a more less extended prelude before going on to the dance movements. But there is nothing specifically English about that. It has even been suggested that, far from being included to suit the taste of the composer’s high-ranking English patron, whoever he might have been, the preludes were added years later in Leipzig. Certainly, although some are less developed than others, Bach took a special interest in the preludes, choosing the suite with the most ambitious of all of them to bring the set to an impressive conclusion.

The Prelude of Suite in D minor takes the form of what is assumed to be a slow introduction (there is no tempo direction) followed by a quicker and brilliantly sustained fugue in three sections - the outer sections based on a theme of rising semiquavers and falling quavers, the middle section on new idea characterised by its repeated notes. The texturally and melodically elaborate Allemande is equally serious-minded, the Courante scarcely less so, while the Sarabande is one of the most expressive examples of its kind and, in a variation appended to it, one of the most highly decorated. Light relief is offered by the next dance - not so much in the comparatively severe Gavotte No.1 as in the delightful Gavotte No.2 which presents the same theme in the major before Gavotte No.1 is duly recalled. It most usefully offsets the closing Gigue, which is another exceptional example of its kind, a hard-driven fugue of breathtaking intellectual and technical virtuosity.