Bach’s English and French suites, and the partitas

The notes turn first to Bach. He wrote a great deal, they say, and as court Kapellmeister composed six English Suites and six French Suites for keyboard. His suites inherit the traditional Baroque suite, and among many dance patterns he wrote most often in the allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue order. Later, as a school music director, he wrote six partitas, which they will look at in turn.

The English Suites, they write, take up a fashion of the early seventeenth century in England, when suites woven from Renaissance dances were in vogue, and a way of applying thematic variation to the suite. The French Suites established a characteristic dance idiom, suited rather to a solo instrument than to an ensemble. French composers applied a broken, style-brisé manner to harpsichord suites, and that can also be found in Bach’s solo suites. He also made active use of the variation technique seen mainly in the English collection, and developed ornaments systematically, marking them on the page with simple signs.

The partitas, they add, were written latest among his suites, and are also called clavier suites. A standard form is four dances in a fixed order — allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue — sometimes with a prelude, and with one or two extra dances before or after the gigue or around the sarabande. The partitas cannot always be told apart by a special rhythm or speed, but the dances are divided into two halves that are repeated.

Handel’s operas, Water Music, and Fireworks

Handel, they write, composed and conducted some forty operas, among them Rodelinda, Rinaldo, and Tamerlano, mostly on historical, mythic, and romantic subjects. Unlike Bach he mainly used dazzling technique, and he mainly stressed the chorus. Among his suites are Water Music, made of three pieces, and Music for the Royal Fireworks, scored, the notes say, for 37 woodwinds, 18 brass, and three timpani.

He wrote many works connected with the orchestra, and organ concertos are often inserted between movements of an oratorio, to supplement the work. His concertos, they add, are based on the church-sonata plan, though sometimes a dance-like movement is added; a strong contrast of concertino and tutti is not to be found. That, they write, differs from Bach’s emphasis on traditional Baroque contrast.

Couperin’s Ordre, and a brief close

Couperin, the notes write, was a figure who greatly influenced Bach. He used a clear major and minor feeling, took an interest in counterpoint, and tried to express it in the music. He was cautious in the use of ornaments and chords, and did not use ornaments much; he placed them mainly on unusually long notes, to sustain the tone. Unlike most suites he grouped pieces in a larger unit called Ordre. The first and last pieces are made to share a key, and the others are in nearby keys. He is, they write, a representative meeting of French and Italian musical elements. The notes’ title writes his name as 쿠프링; the body writes 쿠프랭. They treat that as François Couperin.

They close by saying that suites of the late seventeenth century often took a theme from one movement and varied it to build another. Bach, as they have described him, stays with traditional Baroque form and adds his own color; Handel, unlike Bach, writes more freely and with more exaggerated technique; Couperin uses clear mode and counterpoint, few ornaments, and related keys inside the suite. Those suite forms and musical traits, they write, influenced the age and became a basis for new styles after the Baroque. The notes leave the three composers there, before a list of references. You’ll find the same Korean report, written out more fully, on CampusDown.

Sources

1. The notes, a student comparison of Baroque suites: Bach’s six English and French suites and six partitas; Handel’s Water Music in three pieces and Music for the Royal Fireworks, scored as the notes figure it; and Couperin’s Ordre, named 쿠프링 in the title and 쿠프랭 in the body.

Last updated: 15 November 2026