Top 10 Baroque composers

From around 1600 to 1750, the Baroque period witnessed the creation of some of the greatest musical masterpieces ever composed. Here's our beginner's guide to the greatest composers of the Baroque period

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

JS Bach has been called 'the supreme arbiter and law-giver of music'. He is to music what Leonardo da Vinci is to art and Shakespeare is to literature, one of the supreme creative geniuses of history.

Key recording:

St Matthew Passion

Julian Prégardien (Evangelist), Stéphane Degout (Christus); Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon (Recording of the Month, April 2022) Read the review

Explore JS Bach:

The 10 best Bach works: a beginner's list – Here are a selection of works by Bach that are essential listening; and once bitten the Bach Bug will take you on a journey of almost limitless reward Presents JS Bach.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

With Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Baroque music reached its zenith. The prosperous, cultivated world of contemporary Venice shines through all his works, composed with innate craftsmanship.

Key recording:

The Four Seasons

Rachel Podger vn Brecon Baroque (Editor's Choice, May 2018; shortlisted for the 2018 Gramophone Concerto Award) Read the review

Explore Vivaldi:

Top 10 Vivaldi recordings – Ten of the best Vivaldi recordings, including Gramophone Award-winners and Editor's Choice albums

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Handel is one of the giants of musical history. His is happy, confident, melodic music imbued with the grace of the Italian vocal school, an easy fluency in German contrapuntal writing and the English choral tradition inherited from Purcell.

Key recording:

Messiah

Soloists; Dunedin Consort and Players / John Butt (winner of Gramophone's 2007 Baroque Vocal Award) Read the review

Explore Handel:

The Mysteries, Myths, and Truths about Mr Handel – David Vickers takes an in-depth look at the composer, his life, and works.

Henry Purcell (1659-95)

Many regard Henry Purcell as the greatest English composer of all time. Among his most influential works are the opera Dido and Aeneas and the semi-operas The Fairy Queen and King Arthur.

Key recording:

The Fairy Queen

Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin; Glyndebourne Chorus and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / William Christie (DVD of the Month, October 2010; 2010 Gramophone Award for DVD Performance) Read the review

Explore Purcell:

How we made England, my England: 'They actually built a sort-of London for me to burn down. What heaven!' – Tony Palmer reflects on the making of his acclaimed 1995 film on Purcell.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Claudio Monteverdi, a composer who bridged the Renaissance period and the Baroque, can be justly considered one of the most powerful figures in the history of music. Among his most notable works are the operas Orfeo and L’incoronazione di Poppea. 

Key recording:

Vespers

Taverner Consort / Andrew Parrott (The Top Choice in our Gramophone Collection Article in June 2010) Read the review

Explore Monteverdi:

Monteverdi's Combattimento: which recording is best? In his search for the ultimate recording, Lindsay Kemp finds surprisingly consistent treatment of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)

Heinrich Schütz was the greatest German composer of the 17th century and the first of international stature.

Key recording:

Musicalische Exequien

Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier (Gramophone's Recording of the Year 2012) Read the review

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Domenico Scarlatti produced the vast body of instrumental music for which he’s best known, and in particular the keyboard sonatas. These works extended the genre immeasurably, introducing a virtuosity and brilliance that broke new ground.

Key recording:

Sonatas

Yevgeny Sudbin pf (Recording of the Month, April 2016; shortlisted for the 2016 Gramophone Instrumental Award) Read the review

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Though he was no judge of librettos, Jean-Philippe Rameau raised the musical side of opera to a new level and in his ballets introduced many novel descriptive effects – the French loved these – such as the earthquake in Les Indes galantes.

Key recording:

Overtures

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset (winner of the 1998 Gramophone Baroque Non-Vocal Award) Read the review

Explore Rameau:

Top 10 Rameau recordings – David Vickers recommends 10 of the Rameau’s works and their best recordings

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

Arcangelo Corelli was the main founder of modern orchestral playing and the composer who fashioned two new musical forms, the Baroque trio and solo sonata, and the concerto grosso.

Key recording:

Complete Concerti Grossi

Amandine Beyer vn Gli Incogniti (Editor's Choice, February 2014; shortlisted for Gramophone's 2014 Baroque Instrumental Award) Read the review

Explore Corelli:

Top 10 Corelli recordings​ – Corelli's music continues to inspire musicians and listeners more than 300 years after his death. Here are some of the finest recordings.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Georg Philipp Telemann was probably the most prolific composer in musical history. He wrote almost as much as Bach and Handel put together (and each of them wrote a perplexing amount) including 600 French overtures or orchestral suites, 200 concertos, 40 operas and more than 1000 pieces of church music.

Key recording:

Concertos & Cantata Ihr Völker Hört

Clare Wilkinson mez Florilegium (Editor's Choice, September 2016; shortlisted for Gramophone's 2017 Baroque Instrumental Award) Read the review 

Fugues and Other Musical Charms From Bach to Shostakovich

by Georg Predota  

An example of a fugue structure © composerfocus.com

Among the most feared course requirements for many aspiring composers and students of music is a class simply labeled “Fugue.” And it’s no wonder, as a good many universities that still teach this kind of skills will ask you to sit in this particular class for an entire semester. And invariably, you will have to compose a fugue for your final project. The basic premise is simple enough. Take a short melody or phrase introduced in one part. That melody then taken up by other parts and developed by interweaving the parts. What sounds simple is in reality a highly complex process of rules and restrictions that is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint.

Bach’s unfinished fugue in The Art of Fugue

It is hardly surprising that a good many composers past and present consider the process of writing a fugue an “exercises in a dead language.” Yet for the musical and expressive genius Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the possibilities within these restrictions were endless. His most celebrated and extensively studied collection of contrapuntal movements The Art of Fugue explores the possibilities inherent in a single musical theme. Demonstrating every compositional technique and method known to him, Bach composed eigthteen movements; fourteen fugues and four canons. The collection remained unfinished, however, as Bach died while incorporating his musical signature. How many more gripping jewels he might have composed, we will never know. 

Mozart’s “Jupiter” fugal entries

Even during Bach’s lifetime, fugues and other forms of imitative counterpoint were considered seriously old fashioned. The aesthetics of music and culture had simply changed dramatically. During his extensive travels, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was exposed to a multiplicity of compositional styles, tastes and genres. Mozart, the undisputed pop star of the 18th century, unrelentingly integrated, synthesized and transformed stylistic and musical conventions. It might reasonably be argued, however, that it took the encounter with the music of Bach and all those marvelous fugues that eventually produced compositions of universal appeal and stunning individuality. Mozart had been exposed to counterpoint throughout his life, but he engaged in serious study of fugue only during the 1780s. The diplomat Baron Gottfried van Swieten—who penned the libretto for Haydn’s Creation—was an avid collector of musical manuscripts. Wanting to have these works performed, he held regular musical parties in his Viennese residence, and Mozart was a steady guest. He reports to his sister, “nothing is played but fugues by Handel and Bach.” Mozart’s contact with the mastery of the German contrapuntal tradition opened a completely new musical horizon. He produced a number of stand-alone fugues, and this newly gained compositional skill helped to inform the creation of his final sublime orchestral masterpieces. Words simply can’t describe the jaw-dropping and breathtaking fugal display of quintuple invertible counterpoint in the final movement of the “Jupiter.” 

Johannes Brahms

In 1899, Ernest Walker addressed the 25th session of the Royal Musical Association with a lecture on Johannes Brahms. He described the composer’s musical style as a “fusion of heterogeneous materials with the desire for emotional expression.” Essentially then, Walker saw Brahms as the logical union of Bach’s contrapuntal art and Beethoven’s formal perfection. To his contemporaries and critics, Brahms looked like a bastion of musical conservatism. Surprisingly, it was Arnold Schoenberg who suggested that Brahms was “a great innovator in the realm of musical language, and that his chamber music prepared the way for the radical changes in musical conception at the turn of the 20th century.” But let’s be clear, musical language for Brahms always starts in strict accordance with his extensive knowledge of counterpoint and fugue. He studied every available treatise on this subject and the integrity of the musical structure is paired with the attempt to achieve a deeper level of contrapuntally inspired motivic cohesion. Just listen to the finale of his E-minor Cello Sonata, a movement that epitomizes Brahms’ style. The fugal subject is derived from Bach’s Art of Fugue, and the movement weaves together a highly contrapuntal style with the exploitation of the possibilities inherent in sonata form. Through his study of fugue, Brahms became aware of his place within the Classical tradition, and the inspiration he drew from it resulted in the revitalization of classical form. 

Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin

As a young student, Nadia Boulanger discovered Maurice Ravel cheerfully writing counterpoint exercises in Fauré’s class. She recalled, “I had a surprise when I found myself in Fauré’s class and discovered Ravel was there, too, doing as I used to do then, traditional counterpoint. I didn’t always find it interesting, yet it seemed quite natural that Ravel should do it… It was only years later that I asked him why he was still studying counterpoint. ‘One must clean the house from time to time; I often do it that way,’ he replied.” Ravel’s devotion to the discipline of counterpoint and fugue provided the basis for his elegant and imaginative contrapuntal virtuosity. In fact, Ravel’s first-level entries in the Prix de Rome competitions between the years 1900 and 1905 were naturally five fugues. His engagement with strict contrapuntal forms continued in the piano suite Le Tombeau de Couperin, completed when he was discharged from military service in 1917. First performed by Marguerite Long in 1919, the audience was suitably surprised and impressed to discover that a meandering and jazz-inspired “Fugue” was part of the collection. 

The Esterházy castle

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) entered into the services of the Esterházy family as a court musician in 1761, and he would remain on the job for a total of 41 years. Much of his career was spent at the family’s remote estate, with Haydn reporting “Well, here I sit in my wilderness; forsaken, like some poor orphan, almost without human society… nobody is nearby who could distract me or confuse me about myself. I had no choice but had to become original.” Haydn had turned forty and was working on his six string quartets opus 20, when originality struck. Whereas in earlier efforts he would often fuse the viola and cello parts together in one musical line, he now made the fullest use of four completely independent voices. And one of the clearest ways of demonstrating complete independence of individual voices is to write strict counterpoint and fugues.

Haydn: Sun Quartets, Op. 20

For his opus 20, subsequently nicknamed “Sun Quartets” because the sun is displayed on the cover of the first edition, Haydn composed three fugal finales. Haydn was undoubtedly the leader of fugal composition and technique in the Classical era, and writing fugal finales also offered a brand new solution to the relative weighting of all movements. These fugues are not dry academic exercises, however, as Haydn greatly expanded the texture and dynamics and experimented with flexible phrase length and structure. Every measure is full of variety and unpredictability, with Haydn combining his extensive knowledge of historical sources with the furthest reaches of his brilliant musical imagination.

Beethoven: Sketches for the String Quartet Op. 131

As a young and eager student of music, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) received thorough instruction in counterpoint and fugal writing. During his early days in Vienna he even attracted attention by playing fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier on his recitals. Fugal passages are found in his early piano sonatas and also in the “Eroica,” but fugues did not take on a central role in Beethoven’s oeuvre until late in his career. No doubt you are familiar with the fugue in the Cello Sonata, Op. 102 No. 2, the technically devilish fugue in the “Hammerklavier,” the massive dissonant fugue published as “Große Fuge” Op. 133, and fugal passages in the Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony. However, it is his Opus 131 string quartet that is considered the pinnacle of his creative output. Writing in 1870, Richard Wagner published a poetic description of the work, “Tis the dance of the whole world itself: wild joy, the wail of pain, love’s transport, utmost bliss, grief, frenzy, riot, suffering, the lightning flickers, thunders growl: and above it the stupendous fiddler who bears and bounds it all, who leads it haughtily from whirlwind into whirlwind, to the brink of the abyss – he smiles at himself, for to him this sorcery was the merest play—and night beckons him. His day is done.” Written during a period of immense personal suffering, the opening fugue has been called “the most superhuman piece of music that Beethoven has ever written.” It is like a mysterious vision of another universe and represents for some critics “the melancholiest sentiment ever expressed in music.”

Simon Sechter

A few months before his death, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) first laid eyes on a score of Handel oratorios. “Now for the first time,” he writes, “I see what I lack, but I will study hard with Sechter so that I can make good the omission.” Simon Sechter was probably Vienna’s most famous teacher of counterpoint, and he recalled, “A short time before Schubert’s last illness he came to me… in order to study counterpoint and fugue, because, as he put it, he realized that he needed coaching in these.”

Organ at Heiligenkreuz Monastary

Schubert only managed to have one lesson with Sechter, before he was taken severely ill. He wrote to a friend eight days later, “I am ill. I have had nothing to eat or drink for eleven days now, and can only wander feebly and uncertainly between armchair and bed.” One week later Schubert passed away. Around his lesson with Sechter and his untimely death, Schubert and his friend, the composer Franz Lachner, visited the Heiligenkreuz monastery south of Vienna. Apparently, it was Schubert who suggested that they each write a fugue for the famous organ, which they both did. The Schubert manuscript is lost, but a copy of the work, written in four staves instead of the normally three for organ, did survive. As such, it was first published in 1844 for organ or piano four-hand, but it might well be the case that this fugue represents the very last composition Schubert ever completed. 

Dmitri Shostakovich © Deutsche Fotothek

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) rapidly composed his Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues between 10 October 1950 and 25 February 1951. This polyphonic cycle is the first work composed in the twentieth century that follows the tradition and the dimension of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. The Shostakovich cycle embraces all twenty-four keys, however, it is organized around the circle of fifths, and not in chromatic ascending order like Bach. We know that Shostakovich played the Bach preludes and fugues as a young boy, and in 1950 he was an honorary member of the jury of a piano competition organized in Leipzig for the 200th anniversary of the death of Bach. Bach’s music, and especially the Well-Tempered Clavier, must have given Shostakovich a certain creative impulse and in conversation with some German musicians in Leipzig he exclaimed, “Why shouldn‘t we try to continue this wonderful tradition.” Back home, Shostakovich was in political hot water, fired from his teaching positions in Moscow and Leningrad, with his music officially banned from concerts and broadcast. In fact, he was on the verge of suicide, and he “decided to start working again… I am going to write a prelude and fugue every day. I shall take into consideration the experience of Johann Sebastian Bach.” As with Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, the fugue served as the vehicle for the expression of the most personal, intimate and uncompromising thoughts and feelings.

The Bach Family: Eight Fascinating Relatives of Johann Sebastian

by Emily E. Hogstad  

Many music history lovers know that Johann Sebastian Bach had many children: twenty kids by two wives.

What fewer people know is that the wider Bach family was famously fertile…as well as famously musical.

The Bach family tree © aco.com.au

In fact, the Wikipedia article on the Bach family includes over 75 names.

Many of these Bachs – who lived before, during, and after the lifespan of Johann Sebastian Bach – were professional musicians.

Today we’re taking a look at ten of the most interesting musical Bachs who weren’t Johann Sebastian or his children.

(If you want to find out what happened to Bach’s twenty children, we wrote an article about them here.)

Let’s get started!

Veit Bach (1550-1619)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s great-great-grandfather

The Veit-Bach-Mill at Thuringia

Veit Bach was born around 1550 near present-day Bratislava in the Kingdom of Hungary. He worked as a miller and a baker.

During his lifetime, the Kingdom of Hungary was under the control of the Vienna-based Hapsburg dynasty. The Hapsburgs were Catholic, while Veit was Protestant.

At the time, Protestantism was a relatively new movement. Martin Luther had released his famous Ninety-five Theses, a protest against what he viewed as Catholic corruption, in 1517, only a generation before Veit Bach was born.

To escape religious persecution, Veit Bach moved to Wechmar in the German state of Thuringia, almost halfway between the cities of Leipzig and Frankfurt.

He continued working as a miller after the move. According to local legend, he would play an instrument called the cythringen, a kind of Renaissance-era guitar-like instrument, in rhythm to the sounds of the mill.

Johannes Bach I (15?? – 1626)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s great-grandfather

Johannes Bach I was Veit Bach’s son and born in Wechmar. We’re not sure what year.

According to a family genealogy that Johann Sebastian Bach and his sons assembled generations later, Johannes began his professional life as a baker.

Later, however, he took an apprenticeship as a town piper in the town of Gotha, ten kilometers away from his birthplace.

Tragically, he died of the plague in 1626.

Interestingly, the eulogy for one of Johannes Bach I’s sons stated that his father had once been a carpet weaver. The early members of this musical dynasty clearly had non-musical day jobs to support themselves.

Christoph Bach (1613-1661)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s grandfather

Johannes Bach I had several musician sons. One of them was Christoph Bach, who was born in Wechmar, becoming a court musician there. His brothers also became musicians.

During his career, Christoph Bach took musical jobs in the neighboring towns of Erfurt and Arnstadt. (His famous grandson Johann Sebastian would work in Arnstadt, too.)

He married a woman named Maria Magdalena Grabler. She had three sons: Georg Christian Bach in 1642 and twins Johann Ambrosius Bach and Johann Christian Bach in 1645. (Twins ran in the Bach family!)

Christoph Bach died in 1661 in Arnstadt.

Johann Ambrosius Bach (1645-1695)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s father

Johann Ambrosius Bach, J.S. Bach’s father

Johann Ambrosius Bach and his twin Johann Christoph were born in 1645, when their father was working as a musician in Erfurt.

Johann Ambrosius would have been surrounded by music at an early age. He ultimately followed in his father’s footsteps and became a professional violinist and trumpet player.

Tragically, Johann Ambrosius became an orphan when he was just 16. He and his twin moved in with an uncle until they could support themselves.

In 1668, when Johann Ambrosius was 23, he married a woman named Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt.

In 1671, the couple moved to Eisenach, forty kilometers from Wechmar, so that Johann Ambrosius could take a job as the town musician. Together they would have eight children, including Johann Sebastian in 1685.

Tragedy struck in the spring of 1694 when Maria Elisabeth died.

Johann Ambrosius, in desperate need of a wife to help raise his children, remarried that November.

But this union was doomed, too: he died in March 1695, making Johann Sebastian Bach an orphan just weeks before his tenth birthday.

Johann Christoph Bach (1645-1693)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s uncle

Johann Christoph Bach was Johann Ambrosius Bach’s twin.

One of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons later wrote, “They loved each other tenderly, and looked so much alike that even their own wives could not distinguish them.”

Like his twin and their father, Johann Christoph became a professional musician, first working in the town band in Erfurt and later as a violinist in the Arnstadt court.

Johann Christoph had a volatile temper and lashed out at the musicians in Arnstadt. (Apparently, high tempers and perfectionism ran in the Bach family!) Things got so bad that he was fired.

In 1682, he got his job back, thanks to the intervention of Arnstadt-based Count Anton Günther II, a celebrated patron of music.

Johann Christoph’s biggest claim to fame might be that he introduced his nephew Johann Sebastian to the organ.

Johann Christoph Bach (1671-1721)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s brother

Here’s another Johann Christoph Bach! (The family loved reusing names.)

This particular Johann Christoph Bach was born in Erfurt in 1671, but raised in Eisenach, where his brother Johann Sebastian, fourteen years his junior, was born.

In 1686, as a teenager, he was sent back to Erfurt to apprentice under Johann Pachelbel. He worked as an organist in Erfurt and Arnstadt.

In 1690, he got a job playing organ in the nearby town of Ohrdruf. His and Johann Sebastian’s mother died in the spring of 1694, and their father less than a year later.

In between his parents’ deaths, Johann Christoph got married to a woman named Dorothea von Hof. This meant that after his father’s death, he was no longer a bachelor and was in a position to take in ten-year-old Johann Sebastian.

Not only did Johann Christoph take in Johann Sebastian, he also continued his musical education.

We don’t know exactly what their relationship was like, but Bach’s biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel wrote in his 1802 biography:

The most renowned Clavier composers of that day were Froberger, Fischer, Johann Caspar Kerl, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Bruhns, and Böhm. Johann Christoph possessed a book containing several pieces by these masters, and [Johann Sebastian] Bach begged earnestly for it, but without effect. Refusal increasing his determination, he laid his plans to get the book without his brother’s knowledge. It was kept on a book-shelf which had a latticed front. Bach’s hands were small. Inserting them, he got hold of the book, rolled it up, and drew it out. As he was not allowed a candle, he could only copy it on moonlight nights, and it was six months before he finished his heavy task. As soon as it was completed, he looked forward to using in secret a treasure won by so much labour. But his brother found the copy and took it from him without pity, nor did Bach recover it until his brother’s death soon after.

If the story is true, Johann Sebastian didn’t hold his brother’s strictness against him. He later composed a Capriccio in E major (BWV 993) in honor of Johann Christoph.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Capriccio in E Major, BWV 993 

Johann Ernst Bach I (1683-1739)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s cousin

Twins Johann Ambrosius Bach and Johann Christoph Bach both had children. The former fathered Johann Sebastian, while the latter fathered (among others) Johann Ernst Bach I.

Johann Ernst was born in Arnstadt in 1683. Johann Ernst’s father died ten years later. He moved to Ohrdruf to be near family.

After Johann Sebastian’s parents died and he also moved to Ohrdruf, the two musical cousins began going to school together.

He studied briefly in Frankfurt before securing a job there. A few years later, he moved back to Arnstadt and became Johann Sebastian’s organ-playing substitute.

After Johann Sebastian moved away in 1707, Johann Ernst applied for his vacated position. He won the job…but his salary was less than half of what his cousin’s had been.

He died in 1739 in his mid-fifties.

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759-1845)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s grandson

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach was the grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach, through Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.

He was born in 1759 and received his initial musical training from two of his uncles, C.P.E. Bach and Johann Christian Bach.

When Johann Christian Bach, Johann Sebastian’s youngest son, died in 1782 in London, Wilhelm was present at his deathbed.

Between 1788 and 1811, he worked as Kapellmeister in Berlin at the court of Prince Frederick William II of Prussia. After he received a pension, he retired.

Wilhelm’s most famous piece is possibly the Dreyblatt, a titillating work for piano six hands. It requires one man sitting in the center of the piano bench, with a woman on either side of him. Over the course of the work, the man has to reach behind and around the women.

Dreyblatt für Klavier zu 6 Händen (William Friedrich Ernst Bach) 

In 1843, a monument to Johann Sebastian Bach was erected in Leipzig. Composer Robert Schumann was present, as was Wilhelm. Schumann described Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst as “a very agile old gentleman of 84 years with snow-white hair and expressive features.”

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach had four children. His eldest daughter Caroline died in 1871. She was the last surviving descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach.

He famously said of himself and his work, “Heredity can tend to run out of musical ideas.”

Happy Birthday Johann Sebastian Bach

by Hermione Lai, Interlude

Johann Sebastian Bach—one name says it all! On 21 March, we celebrate one of the most revered and influential composers who ever lived. His compositions fill the air with harmony and joy, and his genius continues to inspire the world.

J.S. Bach

Bach’s music has left an indelible mark. From the intricate melodies in his fugues to the emotional depth of his cantatas, Bach’s work pushed the boundaries of what music could express.

Bach’s genius transcends time! His music is a living and breathing testament to the power of creativity and the beauty of sound; they will continue to inspire admiration and awe.

To celebrate his birthday, let’s dive into the wondrous world of his Orchestral Suites, where Baroque brilliance dances with every single note. These timeless masterpieces have enchanted listeners for centuries, and here are the 10 most popular gems that make these suites unforgettable.

Air on a G String (Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068 “Air” 

We just as well get started with one of Bach’s biggest hits ever. The “Air” from his Suite No. 3 is pure and unadulterated musical magic. Many times we see it referenced as “Air on a G String.” That title is not by Bach but comes from an arrangement fashioned in the 19th century.

The soothing and relatively simple melody is one of the composer’s most serene and timeless works. With its hauntingly delicate strings and serene atmosphere, it sounds like a gentle musical embrace.

In Bach’s original version, the piece is typically played on a single string on the violin, and in the lower register. That warm tone is central to the feeling of calm and elegance. The melody unfolds naturally and almost seems to breathe on its own. It transcends time with its graceful simplicity and profound beauty.

Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067 “Badinerie” 

Bach had this unbelievable genius for turning a simple theme into an unforgettable masterpiece. If you need proof, just listen to the “Badinerie” from his 2nd Orchestral Suite. It is one of his most recognisable and frequently performed compositions.

The title “Badinerie” designates a piece of music light-hearted in character. In French it literally means “jesting,” and Bach presents a vibrant and playful piece characterised by a lively tempo and spirited rhythm.

The melody is primarily carried by the flute and seems almost mischievous at times. It dances through a series of short and rhythmic motifs, and Bach cleverly repeats and transforms these ideas to maintain both interest and drive. It is a masterpiece full of energy and charm and presents Bach’s skill in creating a highly dynamic but intricate musical conversation.

Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066 “Overture” 

One of the all-time Bach favourites, the “Overture” from his 1st Orchestral Suite blends grandeur and elegance in a way that only Bach can. It sets the ceremonial tone for the entire work, and for Bach the title “Overture” generally means “French Overture.”

Musically, that means a slow and majestic introduction followed by a lively and highly contrapuntal section. We can hear the ceremonial dignity in the stately and dotted opening rhythm, but Bach is also building anticipation for the lively section ahead.

Everything starts to dance in the second part, as Bach shifts to a more joyful character with different instrumental voices interacting in lively conversation. The strings lead and create an energetic exchange with the woodwinds and brass. The overture returns to the slow opening rhythm, giving us the impression of having witnessed something noble and celebratory.

Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068 “Gavotte I & II” 

Nobody dances like Johann Sebastian Bach. For some of his most popular examples we don’t need to look further than the Gavotte movements from his 3rd Orchestral Suite. This Gavotte pair reflects the grace of this courtly dance, which Bach infuses with great musical sophistication.

The first “Gavotte” immediately grabs the listener’s attention. The theme is simple, but it feels luxuriously rich due to Bach’s use of harmony and ornamentation. The upbeat rhythm and evenly spaced phrases provide a natural sense of forward motion.

The second “Gavotte” is a bit more reflective, with a slower and more lyrical quality. The musical texture is more transparent with woodwinds and strings creating moments of dialogue. This movement sounds more introspective, yet always retains a feeling of gracefulness. It’s pure Bach, as he blends rhythmic playfulness with harmonic depth and creates timeless delights.

Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069 “Bourrée I & II” (Cologne Chamber Orchestra; Helmut Müller-Brühl, cond.)

Monument of J.S. Bach in Eisenach, Germany

Bach was the undisputed master of turning simply dance forms into something both dynamic and sophisticated. If you don’t believe me, just take a listen to the pair of Bourrées from the 4th Orchestral Suite.

Bach’s treatment of these fast-paced and duple-time French dances is brimming with infectious energy captured within an intricate musical structure. The first Bourrée opens with a buoyant and immediately recognisable theme. What a sprightly and straightforward melody that gives this dance a playful and almost conversational feel.

The second Bourrée, while still in the same lively spirit, introduces a bit more contrast with a slightly different character. It opens in a similar fashion, with an energetic, clear melody, but there is a subtle shift in tone with the movement feeling slightly more intricate. Although rooted in the tradition of the Baroque dance, Bach is simply genius by elevating a simple form to a level of enduring artistic expression.

Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067 “Rondeau” 

Let’s next feature another favourite lively and charming dance movement. The “Rondeau” from the 2nd Suite is in a basic rondo structure, where a recurring theme alternates with contrasting episodes. It’s all about creating a sense of continuity and variety.

The “Rondeau” theme is bright, rhythmically energetic, and immediately engaging. We can easily feel the strong dance-like pulse, and a feeling of momentum and lightness. And just listen to that delightful and lively conversation between the strings and the woodwinds.

The contrasting episodes are more lyrical but harmonically more complex. With the string section in the background, the woodwinds are given the opportunity to shine by adding colour and texture. The recurring theme sounds familiar and joyful, while the contrasting episodes offer variety and a touch of elegance.

Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067 “Sarabande”

J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 – III. Sarabande

The lively and high-spirited dances in the Bach Orchestral Suites are contrasted by deeply expressive and poignant movements. Such is the case with the “Sarabande,” a slow and elegant dance originating from Spain, from the 2nd Suite.

From the very beginning, this dance radiates a sense of gravity and introspection. In this particular dance the focus falls on the second beat of each measure, creating a slight emphasis. This in turn creates a gentle lilt that drives the movement forward without rushing it.

Bach composes a noble and flowing melody, with long legato phrases providing a vocal-like quality. And astonishingly, every phrase unfolds naturally, inviting the listener into a space of reflection. Bach also adds a harmonically rich tapestry, shifting unhurriedly beneath the long melodic lines. It’s all about the subtle emotional nuances as Bach creates a deeply expressive movement of timeless splendor.

Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066 “Forlane” 

If you’re looking for a sense of joyous celebration, look no further than the “Forlane” from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1. This dance of Italian origin is typically in a moderate 6/8 metre, and Bach uses this basic structure to create a piece full of rhythmic momentum, melodic charm, and intricate phrasing.

While the overall form is straightforward, Bach deliciously propels the music forward by relying on the natural division of each measure into two groups of three beats. The melody is lively and playful, and it dances across the strings using crisp motifs that often occur in the form of a question and answer.

The harmony moves through major keys providing a sense of openness and warmth with occasional slight harmonic surprises. Unexpected modulations or shifts in tonality add a touch of colour and keep the music from becoming predictable. What a perfect and popular example of Bach’s ability to infuse dance music with both vibrancy and grace.

Suite No. 2 in B minor , BWV 1067 “Polonaise”

Johann Sebastian Bach playing the organ, c. 1881

For a beautiful dance of grace and dignity, let’s turn to the “Polonaise” from the 2nd Orchestral Suite. This dance is charming and expressive, with Bach showcasing a graceful melody, elegant ornamentation, rhythmic vitality, and subtle harmonic shifts.

Since it is written in the minor mode, this dance has a slightly sombre and reflective tone. But not to worry as Bach often brightens the mood with delicious modulations and harmonic shifts. The flute plays a key role, presenting the main theme while the string section provides a rich harmonic backdrop.

The rhythmic drive and moderate tempo allow for a stately procession, while the melodies and ornaments provide a sense of joyful elegance. The dance feels lively by capturing both the grandeur of the courtly setting and the joyful spirit of dance. Bach once again blends technical mastery with musical expressiveness.

Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068 “Gigue” 

Every good dance needs a rousing finale, and that’s exactly what we get in the “Gigue” from the 3rd Orchestral Suite. The gigue was a very common dance during the Baroque, and its fast pace and often skipping rhythm reflects the joyful spirit of this particular dance form.

The memorable melody in this dance unfolds in long, flowing phrases that are energetic and graceful. Bach adds a number of ornaments to the lively rhythm to add a layer of expressivity and elegance.

What a fantastic, high-energy movement full of rhythmic complexity and joyful exuberance. And just listen to the marvellous interplay between the instruments to create that sense of dialogue and energy. The music is never standing still, and the same can truly be said of Johann Sebastian’s incredible musical mind.

The Orchestral Suites are a radiant celebration of Bach’s elegance and musical ingenuity. Each suite presents a tapestry of contrasting emotions, weaving together joyous dances, delicate melodies, and intricate counterpoint. Together, they stand as some of the most cherished works in Bach’s orchestral repertoire, leaving us with an uplifting sense of musical fulfillment and joy.