Bach Cello Suites
Created | Updated May 15, 2003
Bach wrote his six cello suites between 1717 and 1723 while he was employed as a court musician at the court in Coethen. The were written for one of hte court cellists, probably Carl Friedrich Abel, and show a level of virutosity unusual for cello writing of the time. Each suite is in six movements. First is a Prelude, similar to those in the 48 Preludes and Fugues. This is a free improvisatory piece in a single style based on a small motif or pattern. It sets the mood for the suite and is often thematically related to the other movements, which are all stylized dances. The moods can be roughly described as:
No. 1 (G Major) Playful
No. 2 (D Minor) Tragic
No. 3 (C Major) Heroic
No. 4 (Eb Major) Stately
No. 5 (C Minor) Despairing
No. 6 (D Major) Brilliant
(although to reduce each suite to a single word is to remove the many shadings of emotion!)
Then follows an Allemande, a stately French dance in 4-time with a prominent upbeat. Third is a Courante (literally "running"), a lively dance in 3-time. The suites contain examples of the both the Italian (with semiquavers and more vigourous) and French (quavers and a little more refined) versions. The fourth movement is a Sarabande, a slow dance orginally from Spain. Although in 3-time, there is a strong emphasis on the second beat. This movement frequently contains the emotional heart of the suite, and the remaining movements to an extent relax away from it. These are a pair of contrasting Minuets, Bourees or Gavottes (depending on the suites), and finishing with a boisterous Gigue. This dance in compound time is not a dance of the court like the others, and would have been familar to ordinary people (its English equivalent is the Jig).
Such a formulaic patttern may give the impression that the suites are repetitive and monotonous, but this could not be further from the truth. As well as the characters hinted at above for each suite, each dance movement is explored so fully by Bach that by the end, he has used these structures to express deep and profound emotion. It's hard to explain on paper, so I can only recommned listening to the suites for yourself. No manuscript exists, and so the suites were lost for many years. Although movements were used as teaching excercises by Klengel and Duport, they were not perfomed as pieces until the Spanish cellist Pablo Casals rediscovered them early this century. He studied them for 20 years before performing them in public, and was still playing them at the end of his life aged over 80. His recording is still the best place to start for those new to the suites, but later the versions by Tortelier, Fournier, Wallfisch and Wipslewey will bring out different characters and styles, each of which brings new life to this great masterpiece.
No. 1 (G Major) Playful
No. 2 (D Minor) Tragic
No. 3 (C Major) Heroic
No. 4 (Eb Major) Stately
No. 5 (C Minor) Despairing
No. 6 (D Major) Brilliant
(although to reduce each suite to a single word is to remove the many shadings of emotion!)
Then follows an Allemande, a stately French dance in 4-time with a prominent upbeat. Third is a Courante (literally "running"), a lively dance in 3-time. The suites contain examples of the both the Italian (with semiquavers and more vigourous) and French (quavers and a little more refined) versions. The fourth movement is a Sarabande, a slow dance orginally from Spain. Although in 3-time, there is a strong emphasis on the second beat. This movement frequently contains the emotional heart of the suite, and the remaining movements to an extent relax away from it. These are a pair of contrasting Minuets, Bourees or Gavottes (depending on the suites), and finishing with a boisterous Gigue. This dance in compound time is not a dance of the court like the others, and would have been familar to ordinary people (its English equivalent is the Jig).
Such a formulaic patttern may give the impression that the suites are repetitive and monotonous, but this could not be further from the truth. As well as the characters hinted at above for each suite, each dance movement is explored so fully by Bach that by the end, he has used these structures to express deep and profound emotion. It's hard to explain on paper, so I can only recommned listening to the suites for yourself. No manuscript exists, and so the suites were lost for many years. Although movements were used as teaching excercises by Klengel and Duport, they were not perfomed as pieces until the Spanish cellist Pablo Casals rediscovered them early this century. He studied them for 20 years before performing them in public, and was still playing them at the end of his life aged over 80. His recording is still the best place to start for those new to the suites, but later the versions by Tortelier, Fournier, Wallfisch and Wipslewey will bring out different characters and styles, each of which brings new life to this great masterpiece.
