French Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Gavotte

Bourrée

Loure

Gigue

The usual explanation for the title given to Bach’s six French Suites is that it was to distinguish them from the six English Suites - which, of course, begs the question where the latter got their title from. In both sets of suites French names are given to dances which are of German, Italian, and Spanish origin as well as English and French. The fourth movement of the third French Suite is an Anglaise, and the fifth movement of the fifth English Suite is an umistakably French-style Passepied. The major difference is that the English Suites begin with a Prélude, whereas the French go straight into the sequence of dances - all of them, incidentally, in binary form with each half repeated.

The present Suite in G is French at least in that, just before the final Gigue, where the composer was convention­ally free to introduce two or three dances of his own choice, there is one with exclusively French associations. The only Loure Bach ever wrote, it is probably the most inspired of its kind. Certainly in this context, after attractive but relatively straightforward examples of the Gavotte and Bourrée, its halting rhythms and unpredictable harmonies are peculiarly effective.

As in most suites of this kind, the four standard movements are much further from their dance origins than those of the optional group between the Sarabande and the Gigue. The opening Allemande is remarkable in this case for the gracefulness sustained through its changing harmonies, the Italian-style Corrente for its (mainly) two-part brilliance, the Sarabande for its thoughtfully and resourcefully developed melodic line, the Gigue for the exuberance of fugal writing which seems nothing but spontaneous even when the theme is turned upside down at the beginning of the second half.