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Suite in E minor, BWV 996: V. Bourrée

by Johann Sebastian Bach

PianoOrganGuitarCelloFluteOboeviolinContinuoBassoonOrchestraHornClarinetTromboneTrumpetKeyboardRecorderLuteMandolinBanjoSaxophoneUkuleleViolaTenor Saxophone RomanticBaroqueGuitar tabsChristmasScores

Where to get it

Arrangement details come from recorded listings. Check the retailer’s current edition before buying.

89 retailer listings for this from $4.95 to $5.25, recorded March 2012. 48 archives offer it free.

Free and public domain

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Referenced at

These list the piece but do not sell it — discographies, archives and encyclopaedias. Included because they are often where the edition details are.

About this piece

Suite in E minor, BWV 996: V. Bourrée is a work by Johann Sebastian Bach. Editions in our index are scored for piano, organ, guitar and cello. We track 89 editions for sale priced between $4.95 and $5.25, from Musicnotes, Great Scores, SheetMusic2Print and Alfred Music. Those figures were recorded in March 2012; check the retailer for what it costs today. 48 public-domain archives publish it free of charge, including 8notes, Piano Street and Flutetunes.

The most-played Bach piece that Bach never wrote for guitar

The Bourrée is the fifth movement of the Suite in E minor, BWV 996, one of Bach's earliest surviving keyboard suites — probably written between 1708 and 1717, well before the Leipzig years. The manuscript is headed aufs Lautenwerck, the lute-harpsichord: a gut-strung keyboard instrument built to imitate a lute. It is not a guitar piece, and it is not a lute piece either, though it has spent the last century being both.

Its modern life began outside classical music. Jethro Tull recorded it in 1969 as Bourée, and a generation of guitarists learned it from that record rather than from Bach. That is why editions of it are everywhere in guitar collections and comparatively scarce in keyboard ones.

What to expect on the page: in E minor it sits well under the hands on guitar, and most guitar editions keep that key. Piano editions usually keep it too. The two voices are almost entirely independent, so it is a better sight-reading exercise than its reputation as a beginner piece suggests — the difficulty is holding the lower line steady, not the notes themselves.

Published in

This piece appears in 91 published collections.

Common questions

How much does Suite in E minor, BWV 996: V. Bourrée sheet music cost?
Prices run from $4.95 to $5.25 across 89 retailers. Prices change; the figures shown are the most recent we recorded.
Is Suite in E minor, BWV 996: V. Bourrée available for free?
Yes. 48 archives in our index publish it at no cost, typically as a public-domain scan or engraving. Free editions vary in quality and edition; a paid edition may be easier to read or better fingered.
What instruments is Suite in E minor, BWV 996: V. Bourrée arranged for?
The editions we track are scored for piano, organ, guitar, cello, flute, violin, continuo, orchestra, horn, recorder, lute, mandolin, saxophone and viola. Specific arrangements listed include Voice, Piano, Guitar, Guitar Tab and Easy Guitar Tab.

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