Jimmy

Title: **Bach's Cello Suite No. 1** Composer: **Johann Sebastian Bach** Performer: **Mstislav Rostropovich** Time Period: **Baroque**

__**First Movement - Prelude**__ media type="youtube" key="gR9lCa23kzo" height="315" width="420"

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 * __Second Movement - Allemende__**

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 * __Third Movement - Courante__**

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 * __Fourth Movement - Sarabande__**

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 * __Fifth Movement - Minuet__**

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 * __Sixth Movement - Gigue__**

The “Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello” are arguably the most well known compositions ever written for the solo cello. They were written by Johann Sebastian Bach around the 1720, when he was working for the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen as a Kapellmeister. The suites are very complex, containing a great variety of technical devices, a wide emotional range, compelling voice interactions and conversations and a great amount of intimacy, which has spawned many different interpretations of the suites. The Six Suites all consist of 6 movements, all containing the same structure and order: The Six Suites were not well known before the 1900s, where they were thought of as études. They were then studied and recorded by Pablo Casals around the 1920s. Only then have they started becoming popular. The suites have since been transcribed for a number of instruments. The Prelude from the 1st Suite is the most well known movement from the suites and is probably the most recognized solo piece for the cello, being performed and recorded by famous cellists such as Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma.
 * 1) Prelude
 * 2) Allemende
 * 3) Courante
 * 4) Sarabande
 * 5) Galanteries - (Minuets for Suites 1 and 2, Bourrées for 3 and 4, Gavottes for 5 and 6)
 * 6) Gigue

Johann Sebastian Bach was a famous German composer. He was a very prominent figure during the Baroque era and has composed many works for choirs, orchestras and solo instruments. His famous works include the Brandenburg Concertos and the Cello Suites. Although he was a revered organist during his lifetime, his compositions were not very famous until the first half of the 20th century, where interest in his works was revived and people started performing his compositions. He is now considered one of the most important composers of the Baroque period and one of the greatest composers of all time.

J. S Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach (now part of Germany) on March 21, 1685 as the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. He was born into a musical family, with his father being the director of the town musicians and all of his uncles being professional musicians. Bach learned to play the violin and harpsichord from his father and the organ from one of his uncles, which would become his main calling. He died on July 28, 1750 at the age of 65 after becoming an established musician and composer, who would be admired by other famous musicians later on such as Mozart and Beethoven.

Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major – I am choosing to analyze this movement because is it a very well known movement and it is familiar to me. The movement is a happy and upbeat one which is in G major. The whole movement consists of contrasting high and low 16th notes, making it seem fast and jumpy. Because of the contrasting high and low notes, the piece feels almost chordal. Although this movement is played in andante, it still seems fast paced since the whole piece consists of 16th notes strung together. Rostropovich’s rendition of this movement is excellent. He plays the cello with amazing skill, creating a beautiful sound that is fluid and deep. The Six Suites are unique in that there are a lot of different interpretations of it, as there is no solely accepted rendition of the piece. Rostropovich’s rendition involves careful yet strong use of vibrato, a steady tempo and a nice use of dynamics to make the piece flow very nicely.

Other works from J.S Bach include:
 * The Brandenburg Concertos
 * The Well-Tempered Clavier
 * The Goldberg Variations
 * Sonatas and partitas for solo violin