French suite no. 5 : Boure, Loure, Gigue

Suite · in G major

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750

G major

Key

Suite

Form

Score

First page of French suite no. 5 : Boure, Loure, Gigue

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Difficulty

Our estimate Intermediate

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Themes & character

Most popular French Suite·Baroque dance forms·Closing dances·Brilliant gigue finale

At a glance

Key: G major
Form: Suite

Movements

Bourree

A brisk duple-meter dance, crisp and rhythmic.

Loure

A slower, dotted-rhythm dance in a gently swaying meter.

Gigue

A fast, contrapuntal closing dance in a lively compound meter.

About the piece

The closing three movements of Bach's Fifth French Suite in G major, composed in the early 1720s. Where the suite's opening dances are warm and lyrical, these final numbers grow steadily more animated. The concluding Gigue is especially brilliant, a fast fugal dance that brings the most popular of the six French Suites to a spirited close.

The composer

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685–1750

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.