Johann Sebastian Bach

English Suites

The name 'English Suites' did not originate with Bach, and up to now its origin could not be clarified. In his Bach biography Forkel mentions that the composer wrote the suites to fulfil an English commission. It is a much more likely assumption, however, that Bach derived inspiration for his suites from studying certain English models. A stylistic relationship, and indeed, certain thematic identities can be pointed out between the English Suites and the suites of the French composer, Dieupart, who lived in London. The piano suites of Handel, published in 1720, shortly before the origin of the English Suites, could also have served as antecedents. The English Suites have notremained extant in Bach's own hand, but they are included in a number of contemporaneous manuscript collections. Relying on the most significant sources, our publication gives all the essential differences among the copies in footnotes, thus enabling the performer to choose for himself among the variants. ' (Tamás Zászkaliczky)