The other four were recorded in Paris: 1 and 6 in June 1938, and 4 and 5 in June 1939. 2 and 3, at Abbey Road Studios in London. Although Casals performed the suites publicly, it was not until 1936, when he was 60 years old, that he agreed to record them, beginning with Suites Nos. It was Pablo Casals who first began to popularize the suites, after discovering Friedrich Grützmacher's edition in a thrift shop in Barcelona in 1889 when he was 13. The suites were not widely known before the early 20th century. Scholars generally believe that-based on a comparative analysis of the styles of the sets of works-the cello suites arose first, effectively dating the suites earlier than 1720, the year on the title page of Bach's autograph of the violin sonatas. 1 in G major, BWV 1007Īn exact chronology of the suites (regarding both the order in which the suites were composed and whether they were composed before or after the solo violin sonatas) cannot be completely established. The first page from the manuscript by Anna Magdalena Bach of Suite No. They have since been performed and recorded by many renowned cellists and have been transcribed for numerous other instruments they are considered some of Bach's greatest musical achievements. ĭue to the works' technical demands, étude-like nature, and difficulty in interpretation because of the non-annotated nature of the surviving copies, the cello suites were little known and rarely publicly performed until they were recorded by Pablo Casals in the early 20th century. Dalkin of MusicWeb International called Bach's cello suites "among the most profound of all classical music works" and Wilfrid Mellers described them in 1980 as " Monophonic music wherein a man has created a dance of God". The title given on the cover of the Anna Magdalena Bach manuscript was Suites à Violoncello Solo senza Basso (Suites for cello solo without bass).Īs usual in a Baroque musical suite, after the prelude which begins each suite, all the other movements are based around baroque dance types the cello suites are structured in six movements each: prelude, allemande, courante, sarabande, two minuets or two bourrées or two gavottes, and a final gigue. Bach most likely composed them during the period 1717–23, when he served as Kapellmeister in Köthen. They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. Title page of Anna Magdalena Bach's manuscript: Suites á Violoncello Solo senza Basso
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