The Minuet in G major is a keyboard piece included in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach . For a while, it was attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV Anh. 114), but it is now universally attributed to Christian Petzold. [1] [2] [3] It is a 32-measure piece primarily in the key of G major.
The Minuet in G major is found in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach , where it appears with its companion piece, Minuet in G minor (BWV Anh. 115), as a pair to be performed da capo . The notebook in question, which belonged to Johann Sebastian Bach's second wife Anna Magdalena, is a compilation of music by various composers of the late 17th and early 18th century, including François Couperin, Georg Böhm, Johann Sebastian Bach, and possibly some of his sons (e.g., Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach). Most of the entries in the 1725 notebook were made by Anna Magdalena, and a few were contributed by Johann Sebastian and various friends of the Bach family. Only a few composers are identified in the notebook. The Minuet in G major and its companion are two of the many anonymous works included. In the 1970s, the Minuet in G major was identified as a piece from a harpsichord suite by Dresden organist Christian Petzold. [4]
The melody from the 1965 pop song "A Lover's Concerto", written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, was based on the Minuet in G major. The song was recorded by the girl group The Toys and reached number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 5 in the UK Singles Chart. "A Lover's Concerto" sold more than two million copies and was awarded gold record certification by the R.I.A.A. [5]
In the 1984 film Electric Dreams , the piece is the basis for a duet, or a friendly musical duel, between cellist Madeline and Edgar, the computer. This song from the movie soundtrack, titled "The Duel," was composed and performed by Giorgio Moroder.
The 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus has a scene in which the title character, a high school music teacher, explains to his students the connection between "A Lover's Concerto" and the Minuet in G major. He incorrectly identifies the piece as written by Bach, which is appropriate given the scene is set in 1965 when the public still believed the tune to be written by Bach.
The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a, was published in 1998.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1731.
The title Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Keyboard music makes up most of both notebooks, and a few pieces for voice are included.
The year 1725 in music involved some significant events.
"A Lover's Concerto" is a pop song written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, and recorded in 1965 by the Toys. "A Lover's Concerto" sold more than two million copies and was awarded gold record certification by the R.I.A.A.
Christian Petzold was a German composer and organist. He was active primarily in Dresden, and achieved a high reputation during his lifetime, but his surviving works are few. It was established in the 1970s that the famous Minuet in G major, previously attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, was in fact the work of Petzold. The sprightly melody was used in the 1966 pop music hit "A Lover's Concerto" by the American group The Toys.
"Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden" is an aria from Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel's opera Diomedes. The aria is best known as "Bist du bei mir", BWV 508, a version for voice and continuo found as No. 25 in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.
Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is a collection of keyboard music compiled by the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann. It is frequently referred to simply as Klavierbüchlein.
Anna Magdalena is a 1998 Hong Kong romantic fantasy comedy film starring Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chen and Takeshi Kaneshiro. It was the directorial debut of production designer Yee Chung-Man.
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach is a 1968 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It was their first full-length feature film, and reportedly took a decade to finance. The film stars renowned harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach and Christiane Lang as Anna Magdalena Bach. The orchestral music was performed by Concentus Musicus and conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. It is the first of several Straub-Huillet films to be based on works of classical music. The film was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.
Johann Peter Kellner was a German organist and composer. He was the father of Johann Christoph Kellner.
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar was a German prince, son by his second marriage of Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Despite his early death he is remembered as a collector and commissioner of music and as a composer, some of whose concertos were arranged for harpsichord or organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, who was court organist in Weimar at the time.
The title Minuet in G major can refer to numerous musical compositions, among which the following are the subject of separate articles :
Switched-On Bach II is a musical album by Wendy Carlos, originally released under her birth name, Walter Carlos, in 1973 on Columbia Records and produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind and is a sequel to the 1968 album Switched-On Bach.
The concerto transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach date from his second period at the court in Weimar (1708–1717). Bach transcribed for organ and harpsichord a number of Italian and Italianate concertos, mainly by Antonio Vivaldi, but with others by Alessandro Marcello, Benedetto Marcello, Georg Philipp Telemann and the musically talented Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. It is thought that most of the transcriptions were probably made in 1713–1714. Their publication by C.F. Peters in the 1850s and by Breitkopf & Härtel in the 1890s played a decisive role in the Vivaldi revival of the twentieth century.
Johann Sebastian Bach's output include two types of organ concertos:
