The four orchestral suites (called ouvertures by their author), BWV 1066–1069 are four suites by Johann Sebastian Bach. The name ouverture refers only in part to the opening movement in the style of the French overture, in which a majestic opening section in relatively slow dotted-note rhythm in duple meter is followed by a fast fugal section, then rounded off with a short recapitulation in triple meter of the opening music. More broadly, the term was used in Baroque Germany for a suite of dance-pieces in French Baroque style preceded by such an ouverture. This genre was extremely popular in Germany during Bach's day. Suite No. 4 in D major, BWV 1069: The source is lost, but the existing parts date from circa 1730. Rifkin has argued that the lost original version was written during Bach's tenure at Cöthen, did not have trumpets or timpani, and that Bach first added these part when adapting the Ouverture movement for the choral first movement to his 1725 Christmas cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110 ("Our mouths are full of laughter"). VIDEO: The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra conducted by Ton Koopman plays the 4th Orchestral Suite (Ouverture) in D major, BWV 1069 (? c. 1718-23), at National Museum Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn (Netherlands).
