The four Orchestral Suites or Ouvertures BWV

BWV

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number, is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions...

 1066–1069 are a set of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

, probably composed between 1725 and 1739 in Leipzig. The word overture

Overture

Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...

 refers to an opening movement in which a section of slow dotted-note rhythm is followed by a fugue

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

; at the time, this name was also used to refer to a whole suite

Suite

In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...

 of dance-pieces in the French baroque

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

 style.

Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066

1. Ouverture
2. Courante
   Courante
   The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....
   
   
3. Gavotte
   Gavotte
   The gavotte originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is of moderate tempo...
   
    I/II
4. Forlane
5. Minuet
   Minuet
   A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
   
    I/II
6. Bourrée
   Bourrée
   The bourrée is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last beat of a bar, creating a...
   
    I/II
7. Passepied
   Passepied
   The passepied is a 17th- and 18th-century dance that originated in Brittany. The term can also be used to describe the music to which a passepied is set...
   
    I/II

Instrumentation: Oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

 I/II, bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

, violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 I/II, viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

, basso continuo

Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067

1. Ouverture
2. Rondeau
   Rondo
   Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
   
   
3. Sarabande
   Sarabande
   In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
   
   
4. Bourrée I/II
5. Polonaise
   Polonaise
   The polonaise is a slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish."The polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin....
   
    (Lentement) - Double
6. Minuet
7. Badinerie
   Badinerie
   The badinerie is best known for its designation as the final movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor...
   
   

Instrumentation: Solo flute

Western concert flute

The Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, or flute player....

, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

The badinerie has become a show-piece for solo flautists, due to its quick pace and difficulty.

Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068

1. Ouverture
2. Air
   Air (music)
   Air , a variant of the musical song form, is the name of various song-like vocal or instrumental compositions.-English lute ayres:...
   
   
3. Gavotte I/II
4. Bourrée
5. Gigue
   Gigue
   The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite...
   
   

Instrumentation: Trumpet

Baroque trumpet

The baroque trumpet is a musical instrument in the brass family. It was invented in the mid-20th century based on ideas from the natural trumpet of the 16th to 18th centuries and designed to allow modern performers to imitate the earlier instrument for music of that time...

 I/II/III, timpani

Timpani

Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

, oboe I/II, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

The Air is one of the most famous pieces of baroque music. An arrangement of the piece by German violinist August Wilhelmj

August Wilhelmj

August Wilhelmj was a German violinist and teacher.Wilhelmj was a child prodigy. When Henriette Sontag heard him in 1852, when he was seven, she said "You will be the German Paganini"...

 (1845–1908) has come to be known as Air on the G String

Air on the G String

The "Air on the G String" is an adaptation by August Wilhelmj of the Air, the second movement from Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No...

.

Suite No. 4 in D major, BWV 1069

1. Ouverture
2. Bourrée I/II
3. Gavotte
4. Menuet I/II
5. Réjouissance

Instrumentation: Trumpet I/II/III, timpani, oboe I/II/III, bassoon, violin I/II, viola, basso continuo

The opening movement of this suite was reused by Bach as the choral opening to his cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110

Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110

Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110, is a cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach.-Instrumentation:This cantata is written for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists, four-part chorus, three trumpets, three oboes, two Western concert flutes, fagotto , strings, timpani, and continuo.-Origin:This...

. The voices come in at the opening of the fugal gigue, so that their singing of Lachen (laughter) sounds like "ha ha ha", a technique Bach used a few times in his vocal works.

External links

• Orchestral Suite No. 1, Orchestral Suite No. 2, Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Orchestral Suite No. 4 Werner Icking Music Archive
  Werner Icking Music Archive
  The Werner Icking Music Archive , is a web archive of liberally-licensed sheet music of public domain music. The scores are electronically typeset by volunteers and distributed in PDF, often accompanied by their typesetting files. WIMA continues the defunct GMD Music Archive and is named after...
  
   directories for MIDIs, PDFs of the Orchestral suites
• Orchestral Suites for piano four hands (Max Reger), mp3