Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996

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|header=Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996, played on a lute-harpsichord (lautenwerck)

|filename=Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite BWV 996, E Minor - I Präludium; Presto.ogg|title= 1. Präludium; Presto|description=|format=Ogg

|filename2=Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite BWV 996, E Minor - II Allemande.ogg|title2= 2. Allemande|description2=|format2=Ogg

|filename3=Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite BWV 996, E Minor - III Courante.ogg|title3=3. Courante|description3=|format3=Ogg

|filename4=Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite BWV 996, E Minor - IV (Sarabande).ogg|title4= 4. Sarabande|description4=|format4=Ogg

|filename5=Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite BWV 996, E Minor - V Bourrée.ogg|title5=5. Bourrée|description5=|format5=Ogg

|filename6=Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite BWV 996, E Minor - VI (Gigue).ogg|title6= 6. Gigue|description6=Performed by Martha Goldstein|format6=Ogg}}

The work consists of six movements:

1. Präludium: Presto
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. (Sarabande)
5. Bourrée
6. (Gigue)

Bach wrote his lute pieces in a traditional score rather than in lute tablature, and if the work is intended for the lautenwerk, it would have been played on a keyboard.{{cite book|author1=Nancy Bachus|author2=Daniel Glover|title=The Baroque Spirit, Bk 2: Book & CD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgf1ijR_rFcC|year= 2000|publisher=Alfred Music Publishing|isbn=978-0-7390-0502-6|page=28}} No original script of the Suite in E minor for Lute by Bach is known to exist.{{cite book|author1=Hannu Annala|author2=Heiki Mätlik|title=Handbook of Guitar and Lute Composers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8_cS-jP7ntoC|year=2008|publisher=Mel Bay Publications|isbn=978-0-7866-5844-2|page=32}} However, in the collection of one of Bach's pupils, Johann Ludwig Krebs, there is one piece ("Praeludio – con la Suite da Gio: Bast. Bach") that has written "aufs Lauten Werck" ("for the lute-harpsichord") in unidentified handwriting.

Some argue that despite the annotation about the lute-harpsichord, the piece was meant to be played on the lute, as demonstrated by the texture. Others argue that since the piece was written in E minor, it would be incompatible with the baroque lute, which was tuned to D minor unless a capo was on the 2nd fret.{{cite book|author1=Johann Sebastian Bach|author2=Jozsef Eotvos|title=J. S. Bach: The Complete Lute Works|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZdPip4zC88C&pg=PR6|year= 2002|publisher=Mel Bay Publications|isbn=978-0-7866-6819-9|page=vi}} Nevertheless, it may be played with other string instruments, such as the guitar, mandola, or mandocello, and keyboard instruments (such as piano), and the fifth movement (the bourrée) is especially well known among guitarists.{{cite web | author=Elizabeth T. Knuth | title=Bourrée |url=http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/mandotab/bourree.html |access-date=2007-12-18 }}

• Bourrée in E minor, other uses of the fifth movement bourrée from this suite in classical and popular music

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Category:Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach

Category:Compositions in E minor

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