Johann Sebastian Bach - English Suites

This is the earliest of Bach’s sets of keyboard suites, probably written during his time in Weimar.
The name is mysterious and somewhat misleading, since the works have no affinity with English keyboard music: they could even be described as more French in style than the French Suites. However, a manuscript copy described the work as “fait pour les Anglais” (made for the English).
Bach’s 19th-century biographer Forkel speculated that they were commissioned by an English nobleman, others have contended that Bach was emulating the keyboard suites of Handel or Dieupart, both of whom worked in England.
On a larger scale than the their “French” equivalents, the English Suites all begin with a Prelude.