From the notebook Bach kept for Anna Magdalena, both halves. Graceful eighth notes over a steady three.
The story
For more than two centuries this minuet was known as Bach’s. It survives in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, a collection of pieces Bach and his family copied out in 1725 for his wife and children to play at home.
In the 1970s scholars found that it, and its partner the Minuet in G minor, came from a harpsichord suite by Christian Petzold, the court organist in Dresden. Bach had simply copied a piece he liked.
A minuet is a courtly dance in three beats, danced in small, elegant steps. Count “one, two, three” and imagine bowing on the one.
Three things to know
- In 1965 the pop group The Toys turned it into “A Lover’s Concerto”, a hit in the United States and Britain.
- It is one of the most-played first pieces in the world for young pianists.
- Petzold was famous in his lifetime; today he is remembered almost entirely for this one little dance.
How to play it
The left hand is a real second melody, not just chords. When you add it, try to hear the two lines answering each other.