BACH FRENCH SUITES
Played by VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON
(Pianoforte)
No one knows why Bach's six French and six
English Suites have these names; we can only guess that the French ones, at any rate, were so called because the French compusers had handed down the form, as Bach found it. Their rule was that there should be at least four pieces. Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Cigue. Even before Bach's day. other movements, such as the Gavotte and the Bourrée, bad been added. and Cach had no hesitation in enlarging his Suites as he wished. Any movements which did not originally belong to the group, he placed. as a rule, between the Sarabande and the Gigue. so that it comes last. Any other additional movements he seemed to prefer to put at the beginning. All the French Suites, however, begin at once with Allemandes.
In his hands the form reached a very high plane of art, and though each of the dance forms retained its traditional character, he gave it in every case a new dignity and meaning.