English Suites (Bach)

Bach's English Suites display less affinity with Baroque English keyboard style than do the French Suites to French Baroque keyboard style.

It has also been suggested that the name is a tribute to Charles Dieupart, whose fame was greatest in England, and on whose Six Suittes de clavessin Bach's English Suites were in part based.

In the English Suites especially, Bach's affinity with French lute music is demonstrated by his inclusion of a prelude for each suite, departing from an earlier tradition of German derivations of French suite (those of Johann Jakob Froberger and Georg Boehm are examples), which saw a relatively strict progression of the dance movements (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue) and which did not typically feature a Prelude.

The preludes of the other five suites in this series are based on the allegro of a concerto grosso form.

The key sequence follows the same series of notes as the chorale "Jesu, meine Freude"; it is unestablished whether or not this is coincidental.