J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
German baroque composer, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote four orchestral suites. Tonight we will play the second one in B minor, which we think he composed around 1738-39. Since 1723 Bach had been working in Leipzig, where he was responsible for the music of the town’s four principal churches and civic music events, and trained the musicians at the Thomasschule. In addition his many duties, he began directing the Collegium Musicum in 1729, continuing until the early 1740s. The Collegium Musicum presented weekly public community concerts, for which he produced all kinds of music: overtures, duo and trio sonatas, sinfonias, concertos, and suites. The earliest existing copies of the orchestral suites date from Bach’s Leipzig days, but it is possible that he could have composed some of them previously in Cöthen when he worked for Prince Leopold. This well known seven-movement Second Suite, scored for solo flute, string orchestra and continuo opens with the elegant “French overture” style which features characteristic double dotted rhythms and ornamental figures. The first opening is slow and majestic while the second section is a fast fugal section where each of the voices gets a chance to interject with the theme. In this movement, and for the most part in the following movements, Rondeau, Sarabande, and Minuet, the flute mainly doubles the first violin. However in the Bourrée and Polonaise—the middle dance contains a more elaborate solo flute part. The final movement is a lively Badinerie and the flute takes the spotlight throughout in the manner of a flute concerto.
