Description
In 1726, at the age of forty-one, Bach published the Partita No. 1 on its own. Though he had by then been composing for over two decades and was Thomaskantor in Leipzig, this was the first work he ever put into print. The remaining partitas followed one at a time until 1730, and in 1731 all six were gathered as Clavier-Übung I. The first edition carried a dedicatory poem written for the birth of Prince Emanuel Ludwig of Anhalt-Köthen.
In B-flat major and common time, this short movement serves as the door to the suite: a singing right-hand line above broken chords that never stop flowing. There are rarely more than three voices, the range is modest, and the writing is thoroughly transparent — a quiet announcement of the dances to come.
It is rated advanced, though there is almost nothing here that is difficult for the fingers. What is hard is keeping the running broken chords even as accompaniment while letting only the melody above them come forward. Play both hands at the same volume and the movement turns into an étude.
Suite-form works from the Baroque era; Bach's Partitas, a sequence of varied dances, are ranked among the greatest keyboard works.
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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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