Friday 7 January 2011
Tune of the Day: Two Minuets by J.S. Bach
from Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major
These two minuets are taken from J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 1. As pointed out by scholars, there are remarkable melodic similarities between this suite and the chorale “Dir, dir, Jehovah, will ich singen”, BWV 299, one of the very few chorale melodies regarded as being unquestionably Bach's own. In particular, there's an obvious resemblance between the chorale and Menuet I, while Menuet II, though seemingly unrelated, does also pick up the exact rhythms and pitches of the chorale melody.