Johann Sebastian Bach
Musette BWV Anh. 126
Overview
This piece is included in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725), a birthday gift from Johann Sebastian Bach to his wife. The catalog number "BWV Anh." indicates that it is of doubtful attribution to Bach, and modern scholarship considers the true composer unknown.
A musette is a type of bellows-blown bagpipe that was fashionable in French court circles during the 17th and 18th centuries. The term also refers to a pastoral dance style, often used in the trio sections of gavottes and minuets. The defining characteristic of this piece is the drone bass that imitates the bagpipe's continuous sound. The note D sustains through bars 1-2 and 5-6, A from bar 9, and E from bar 13, providing a foundation throughout the piece.
Written in D major with a 2/4 time signature, the music follows a ternary A-B-A form (bars 1-8, 9-20, 21-28). In Bach's era, scores contained no dynamics, articulations, or phrasing marks, leaving interpretation to the performer. Playing the left-hand octaves in a detached manner effectively captures the characteristic bagpipe sound. The recommended tempo is around quarter note = 112.
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