Description
This minuet is in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, used in the Bach household from 1725, and is one of the best-known pieces in classical music. It was long thought to be by Bach, but it is now generally attributed to Christian Petzold, an organist in Dresden. It is paired with the G minor minuet that follows it in the notebook (BWV Anh. 115).
It is in G major and 3/4, in binary form with each half repeated; a bright right-hand melody is supported by a simple line in the left. The melody mixes steps and leaps in a way that makes it easy to remember. The range runs from G2 to B5, with 204 notes in about 42 seconds. The tune was reused in the 1965 pop song A Lover's Concerto.
It is often used as an early piece in piano methods, though the site rates it intermediate. The left hand moves as an independent line, so putting the hands together is the first hurdle. Slow the playback speed, check the left hand's movement through the hand colours, and listen to each hand alone before combining them; it will come together calmly. Keep the triple metre light and buoyant.
The minuet, an elegant triple-time dance popular in the Baroque era, evoking the refined atmosphere of a courtly ball.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
What this piece teaches
The minuet from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach that learners everywhere meet early on (it is now attributed to Christian Petzold). It brings triple time, and a left hand that moves as a second melody rather than an accompaniment.
How to practise it
- In triple time the weight falls on the first beat, with the second and third lighter - think of the step of a dance.
- Join the left-hand notes as a melody of their own. This is a piece where practising hands separately pays off most.
- Switch to the score view to see the two hands written as two independent lines.
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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