The Dramatic Heart: J.S. Bach’s English Suite No. 2
As we continue our exploration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s magnificent “English” Suites, we arrive at the second in the set, a work in the dramatic and intense key of A minor. The collection’s enigmatic title remains a historical curiosity—likely stemming not from any direct connection to England, but perhaps as an homage to the London-based French composer Charles Dieupart, whose work may have inspired the prelude of the First Suite. Regardless of its origin, the name has stuck to this set of six grand keyboard works, each a masterclass in the Baroque dance suite.
Composed around 1715, while Bach was employed in Weimar, the English Suites are notable for their scale and brilliance. The Second Suite, BWV 807, is arguably the most famous and frequently performed of the set, beloved for its perfect balance of virtuosic fire and profound introspection. Like its siblings, it follows the established French model: a large-scale prelude followed by a core set of dances (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue), with lighter dances, or galanteries, inserted before the finale.
The suite opens with a Prelude of tremendous energy and high drama. Unlike the two-part invention of the First Suite, this prelude is structured like the opening movement of a vibrant Italian concerto. It alternates between powerful, orchestral-sounding ritornello sections, with their insistent, repeated-note themes, and passages of brilliant, virtuosic passagework for the soloist. From its first notes, the movement establishes a sense of urgency and pathos that will resonate throughout the suite.
Following this fiery opening is the Allemande, a German dance of a more flowing and contemplative character. Here, Bach spins a continuous, unbroken line of expressive melody, a beautifully complex web of sound where every voice is given equal importance. It is a moment of lyrical grace after the storm of the prelude. The energy returns with the Courante, a driving and rhythmically relentless French dance. Its texture is intricate and its rhythm propulsive, demanding exceptional clarity and dexterity from the performer as the melodic lines chase each other with breathless speed.
The emotional core of the suite is the Sarabande. This slow, stately dance in triple time becomes a canvas for profound expression in Bach’s hands. The melody is simple and unadorned at first, a stark and beautiful statement of melancholic grace. Bach then provides an exquisite variation, les agréments de la même Sarabande (“the embellishments of the same Sarabande”), where the simple melody is decorated with a profusion of delicate, expressive ornamentation, like intricate lace laid over a dark, rich velvet.
The mood lightens with a pair of contrasting Bourrées. The first is a brisk, assertive dance in A minor, full of rhythmic vitality. The second bourrée shifts to the parallel key of A major, providing a moment of sunny, almost rustic charm—a brief, cheerful interlude—before the first bourrée is repeated. The suite concludes with a brilliant and energetic Gigue. This lively dance, with its origins in the British Isles, is a masterfully constructed three-voice fugue. Its subject is jaunty and memorable, and Bach develops it with unstoppable logic and wit, bringing this dramatic and deeply satisfying suite to a powerful and exhilarating close.
