22 BACH | THE FRENCH SUITES (BWV 812-817) And not all these dances are French! It is thought that the title of these Suites is unauthenticated. Although there are several French dances, notably the Menuet, which appears regularly, Bach in fact takes us on a genuine musical tour of Europe, borrowing the Sarabande from Spain, the Gigue from Ireland, or making reference to Italian and Polish traditions. Though he never left Germany, he had the soul of a traveller. He was a man of culture and a great humanist who read and copied an enormous number of scores, went to hear visiting foreign artists, and nourished his language with multiple styles, both learned and popular. He is inviting us here to recreate in our minds all kinds of dance steps that in turn guide our movements at the keyboard. We can imagine raising our feet, setting them down lightly or with force, wearing a peasants’ clogs or an aristocrats’ slippers, for all social classes are represented. And this awareness of the body in motion, of gravity and then of elevation, helps us to bring out two essential and complementary aspects of Bach’s music: its earthly side and its celestial side.
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