Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069

• Bach composed this suite around 1725 in Leipzig, probably for his Collegium Musicum. He revised the work between 1729-41.¹
  • Read more about the Collegium.
• Bach arranged the first movement of this suite as a chorus for his Cantata BWV 110 (an unusual move on Bach’s part–he usually arranged vocal music into instrumental music, not the other way around). BWV 110 is Unser Mund sei voll Lachens (Our Mouth is Full of Smiling), a cantata for Christmas which premiered in Leipzig on Dec. 25, 1725.

Movements

1. Ouverture
2. Bourrée
3. Bourrée
4. Gavotte
5. Menuett
6. Menuett
7. Réjouissance. This term, French for “rejoicing,” indicates a style of music often used for festive pubic occasions. Handel also used this genre in a movement of his Music for the Royal Fireworks.²³

1. Christoph Wolff and Walter Emery, “Bach, Johann Sebastian,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed January 12, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278195.
2. David Ledbetter, “Réjouissance,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed January 12, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000023172.
3. “Orchestral Suite No.4 in D major, BWV 1069 (Bach, Johann Sebastian),” IMSLP, accessed January 12, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Orchestral_Suite_No.4_in_D_major%2C_BWV_1069_(Bach%2C_Johann_Sebastian).