English Suites (Bach)

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English Suites BWV 806–811 are six keyboard works by Johann Sebastian Bach, written for harpsichord (or clavichord). They are among his earliest complete keyboard sets, probably created between 1713 and 1720. The name may honor Charles Dieupart, whose music partly inspired these suites, and the pieces show connections to Dieupart’s French style.

In style, they lean more toward French influence than toward traditional English keyboard music. They resemble Bach’s French Suites and Partitas in form and ornament, and echo the French lute-suite tradition. Unlike some earlier German works that followed a strict order of dances (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue) without preludes, Bach adds a Prelude to each English Suite. These preludes have clear meter, unlike the unmeasured preludes found in some French lute music.

The first suite is unusual: it has two courantes and two doubles for the second courante, and its Prelude is short and based on a theme from a Dieupart suite. The preludes of the other five suites are based on the allegro of a concerto grosso. Interestingly, the key sequence mirrors the chorale Jesu, meine Freude; whether Bach did this on purpose is not certain.

The six suites are BWV 806–811.