About Bach’s Allemande
The first dance movement in clavecin suite is the Allemande. This piece, which is as “Kyrie” in the Mass, has a role in determining the appeal of the suite as a whole. For this reason, composers of the baroque period put a lot of effort into this movement. Bach’s suites are often preceded by a prelude, overture, or sinfonia (also as same as the case by Handel, Couperin, and Rameau). The following is a list of Bach’s Allemandes that I’m particularly fond of.
(1) Allemande from French Suite No. 2 in C minor (Fig. 1)
(2) Allemande from English Suite No. 3 in G minor (Fig. 2)
(3) Allemande from Partita No. 2 in D minor for unaccompanied violin (Fig. 3)
(4) Allemande from Suite No. 5 in C minor for unaccompanied cello (Fig. 4)
(5) Allemande from Lute Suite in G minor (Fig. 5)
Some of my favorite Allemandes by other composers are as follows.
(1) Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Allemande in Clavecin Suite in A minor (Fig. 6)
(2) Allemande of François Couperin’s Pieces de Clavecin, Vol. 1, No. 1 in G minor (Fig. 7)
(3) Allemande from François Couperin’s Pieces de Clavecin, Vol. 1, No. 3 in C minor (Fig. 8)
(4) Allemande from François Couperin’s Suite in E minor for viol (Fig. 9)
(5) Allemande from Louis Marchand’s Clavecin, Vol. 1 in D minor (Fig. 10)
(6) Allemande from Handel’s Harpsichord Suite No. 3 in D minor (Fig. 11)
Apparently, all the pieces are in minor keys. I feel that most of the great Allemandes are in minor keys rather than major keys. Lastly, I would like to introduce an Allemande that I myself composed 50 years ago.