Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most important composers of Western music history. He came from a widely ramified musical dynasty, which produced numerous musicians and organists in the Thuringian-Saxon area

The Sarabanda con Partite (Sarabande with variations) in C Major (BWV 990), attributed in the sources to Johann Sebastian Bach, presents the interesting and not too often encountered linking of a variation sequence and a suite. A harmonic bass pattern is developed over a succession of twelve variations and four dance movements. This new edition once again makes accessible a work which in all probability was composed in the 18th century, and in so doing draws upon newly discovered sources. It is loosely adapted from the overture for Bellérophon (LWV 57) by Jean-Baptiste Lully.

The Sarabanda con Partite would be a welcome addition to the short list of variation sets by Bach. Leonhard Scholz, the Nuremberg organist whose manuscript clearly attributes it to Bach, has emerged in recent years as an important Bach copyist who had access to rare and early works. Although the style of BWV 990 has been placed in the mid-seventeenth century (Eichberg 1975,45-6), the wide-spanning scales and arpeggiation in several variations (here called partitae) are more likely to have been written in the 1690s or later. The same is true of the harmony in some of the more expressive variations (e.g., the Neapolitan in partita 12, m. 14). The sixteenth and last variation is a little gigue (L'ultima partita o giguetta) using the type of running figuration in 6/8 found in several of Bach's early gigues (e.g., in BWV 996). Although occasionally suggesting north-German organ style, the virtuoso writing seems calculated for the harpsichord, clavichord being a second choice; in this the work is distinct from the more modest variation sets by Pachelbel and his pupils, including older members of the Bach family. The piece is surely German. The Latinizing title ("sarabande with variations") is reminiscent of that of BWV 833, and the opening partita, that is, the sarabande, is a German adaptation of the French dance. Its da-capo form recurs in north-German sarabandes, notably the famous one from Handel's Hamburg opera Almira that became the aria "Lascia ch'io piango" in Rinaldo. There is another sarabande of this type in the slightly doubtful Suite in F Minor BWV 823, whose opening measures contain a descending bass somewhat similar to the one here. The present bass line, together with the rhythm, would not be out of place in a chaconne," and the style of some variations recalls Handel's early keyboard chaconnes. A few mannerisms, such as the slurred downward leaps in mm. 6 and 11 of the sarabande, recur in authenticated early Bach works, and the same motive plays an important role in the first variation (partita 2). Hence, if the present order of the variations is original, the composer's first thoughts included the development of an expressive "sigh" figure, not virtuoso showmanship. The basis of the variations is not primarily the melody of the sarabande but its bass line. Despite the strict maintenance of da-capo form in all sixteen partitae, which may grow wearying, BWV 990 remains a very attractive work. The intense concentration on a few simple motivic ideas in partitae 2, 3, 5, and others—sometimes requiring considerable keyboard dexterity, as in partitae 6 and 10—points to an intellectually rigorous virtuoso such as Bach. A significant work, BWV 990 would considerably broaden our view of Bach's early style if it could be shown to be his.

Source: IMSLP (http://imslp.org/wiki/Sarabande_con_partite_in_C_major ,_BWV_990_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian))

Although originally written for Harpsichord. I created this Arrangement of the Sarabande a Partitas in C Major (BWV 990) for Flute, Violin & Classical Guitar.