Overture-Suite No. 3 in e minor

Composer: BACH, Johann Bernhard
  • Four suites by J.B. Bach survive. All are labeled “Ouverture,” but all are structured in multiple movements (hence they are sometimes labeled “overture-suites.” 
  • The existing manuscript for this work at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin labels it an “ouverture.” The spelling indicates a French influence, and indeed, the work’s first movement is in the Baroque form generlly known as “French overture.” The French title of the third movement, “Les plaisirs,” is another example of J.B.’s French influences. 
  • J.S. Bach created copies of J.B. Bach’s ouvertures for performances by his Leipzig Collegium Musicum. 
  • According to a statement in J.S. Bach’s obituary (1754), Johann Bernhard Bach “composed many beautiful overtures in the manner of Telemann.” (Telemann also favored programmatic movement titles.)1

Movements

  1. Ouverture  
  2. Air  
  3. Les Plaisirs 
  4. Menuet 1; Menuet 2  
  5. Air  
  6. Rigaudon  
  7. Courante  
  8. Gavotte en Rondeau2

Sources

  1. Christoph Wolff, “Bach, Johann Bernhard,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 18, 2021, https://proxy.multcolib.org:2669/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278187. 
  2. “Overture-Suite in E minor (Bach, Johann Bernhard),” IMSLP, accessed August 18, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Ouverture-Suite_in_E_minor_(Bach%2C_Johann_Bernhard).

Cut IDs

23441