Description
Fine notes race through a quick triple meter in this courante, the second movement of French Suite No. 5 in G major, which follows the allemande and brings quick motion into the suite. The Baroque courante came in a stately French form and a fast, running Italian form, the corrente, and this one has the running character of the latter.
It is in G major and 3/4. It lasts only about 44 seconds but has 590 notes, an especially high density for this suite. A stream of quick right-hand notes is supported by the left hand, and at times the hands trade roles. It is in two parts, the first heading to D major and the second returning home, rushing through in a short span.
It is rated intermediate, but its speed and density test finger fluency and concentration. The task is to keep the quick notes even while feeling the first beat of each bar lightly, so the flow never stops. A 61-key keyboard covers its D2 to C6 range. Start with the playback slowed a good deal, and check with the hand colours which hand carries the motion. Repeating short stretches with the A-B loop and raising the speed bit by bit will get it ready without strain.
Six keyboard suites by Bach that elegantly incorporate Baroque dance forms.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach was the towering figure of German Baroque music, serving for decades as Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Renowned for his mastery of counterpoint, he laid the foundations of keyboard music with works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions. This site includes minuets and polonaises from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, the Inventions and Sinfonias, and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier. The Notebook pieces are catalogued with BWV Anh. (appendix) numbers, but many are by other composers - Petzold's minuets among them - or by no one known, and most of their song pages give the current view of who wrote them.
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