During his lifetime, Johann Sebastian Bach was primarily known as a performer rather than as a composer. Few of his compositions appeared in print, and most important works were published long after his death. A large number of his autograph manuscripts were lost or destroyed, although Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach managed to salvage a good number of important sources.
A large number of these important sources are manuscript copies made by Johann Sebastian Bach’s students. In many instances, performers made copies of such copies and used them for public or private occasions.
For the English Suites, the autograph manuscript has not survived, and the work has come down to us in a number of manuscript copies only. On one of these early manuscript copies, written by Bach’s youngest son Johann Christian, we find the mysterious annotation “fait pour les Anglois” (written for the English) for the prelude of the first suite, BWV 860/1.
Sufficed to say, no such English nobleman has ever been identified.
What is most important is that this music has entertained us hundreds of years!! And here is the amazing Martha Argerich to play this music for you:
