Bach: The Cello Suites

Originally dismissed as curiosities, J. S. Bach's Cello Suites are now understood as the pinnacle of composition for unaccompanied cello. This handbook examines how and why Bach composed these highly innovative works. It explains the characteristics of each of the dance types used in the suites and reveals the compositional methods that achieve cohesion within each suite. The author discusses the four manuscript copies of Bach's lost original and the valuable evidence they contain on how the Suites might be performed. He explores how, after around 1860, the Cello Suites gradually entered the concert hall, where they initially received a mixed critical and audience reception. The Catalan cellist Pablo Casals extensively popularized them through his concerts and recordings, setting the paradigm for several generations to follow. The Cello Suites now have a global resonance, influencing music from Benjamin Britten's Cello Suites to J-pop, and media from K-drama to Ingmar Bergman's films.

List of contents

List of figures; List of examples; List of tables; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Contexts: Cöthen, French style, 'opus' collections and the cello; 2. Dance types, preludes and analytical perspectives; 3. The four manuscript copies; 4. Transmission, performance and reception, 1720-c. 1900; 5. Pablo Casals and the Cello Suites in the cultural imagination; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Edward Klorman is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the Department of Music Research, McGill University having previously taught at The Juilliard School and Queens College, CUNY. His award-winning first book is Mozart's Music of Friends: Social Interplay in the Chamber Works (Cambridge, 2016).

Product details

• Authors: Edward (Mcgill University Klorman, Klorman Edward
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 31.08.2025
• EAN: 9781009054591
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0905459-1
• No. of pages: 180
• Series: New Cambridge Music Handbooks
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; MUSIC / History & Criticism, MUSIC / Instruction & Study / Theory, MUSIC / Musical Instruments / Strings, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, History of Music, Music reviews and criticism, Art music, orchestral and formal music, Theory of music and musicology, Baroque music (c 1600 to c 1750), Violin and violin family instruments