The Keyboard suite in D minor (437) was composed by George Frideric Handel, for solo keyboard (harpsichord), between 1703 and 1706. It is also referred to as Vol. 2 No. 4. It was first published in 1733.
The work consists of five movements:
| Movement | Type | Grove reference | Händel-Gesellschaft reference | Hallische Händel-Ausgabe reference | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prelude | 107 | xlviii, 149 | The prelude did not appear in the first edition published by John Walsh[1] and was taken from Handel's keyboard suite HWV 428. HWV 561 is another version of the prelude. | ||
| 2 | Allemande | 108 | ii, 81 | iv/5, 29 | ||
| 3 | Courante | 109 | ii, 82 | iv/5, 30 | ||
| 4 | Sarabande | 110 | ii, 82 | iv/5, 31 | theme with two variations. | |
| 5 | Gigue | 111 | ii, 83 | iv/5, 33 |
The Sarabande was used in an orchestral arrangement for the Stanley Kubrick period drama film Barry Lyndon (1975).
It was used for the funeral of a Venetian printer in James Burke's Connections.
The Sarabande was quoted by Joe Hisaishi in the song "Nausicaä · Requiem" from his score for Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 animated film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
Dutch singer Petra Berger used the Sarabande as the musical setting for her song about Mary, Queen of Scots, "Still a Queen (In My End Is My Beginning)", from her album Eternal Woman (2001).
In 2002, the sarabande was used in the so-called "Odyssey" commercial for Levi's. [2]
The Sarabande was featured in the episode "Warp and Weft" (2017; S02E03) of the second season of the ITV period drama TV series Victoria.[3]
An orchestral version of the Sarabande was used on the first episode of The ABC Murders (2018), a television mini-series based on the Agatha Christie novel The A.B.C. Murders (1936), starring John Malkovich as Poirot.
Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish uses it to accompany his 'found poem' section in every episode, performed by the Billroth String Quartet/Ensemble.[4]
Danish DJ Christian Steen Jensen (alias Camena) used the Sarabande in his release (2006)