Johann Sebastian Bach composed the ‘English’ Suites during his period in the employ of the Prince of Cothen (1717-23). As the prevailing Calvinist atmosphere at...

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the ‘English’ Suites during his period in the employ of the Prince of Cothen (1717-23). As the prevailing Calvinist atmosphere at the court prevented Bach from writing religious music, he turned exclusively to instrumental music at this time. But the Prince’s chamber did not occupy all of Bach’s time. In Cothen he was officially discharged from any ad horam obligations to the church, and was thus able to devote part of his time to teaching. His two Clavier-Buchlein, written for Wilhelm Friedemann and Anna Magdalena Bach, respectively, bear witness to this activity. The English Suites are, above all, suites. Their movements include the prelude, the allemande, the courante, the sarabande, and the gigue. Bourrees, gavottes, minuets, and passepieds appear between the sarabande and the gigue. A surprising addition to Suites II and III is an ornamented version of the Sarabande, which Bach inserted just after the first, plain version.