Suite in E minor, BWV 996, is a musical composition written by Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750) between 1708 and 1717. It is probable that this suite was intended for Lautenwerck (lute-harpsichord).[1] Because the lautenwerk is an uncommon instrument, it is in modern times often performed on the guitar or the lute.
The work consists of six movements:
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.[2] No original script of the Suite in E minor for Lute by Bach is known to exist.[3] 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.[3]
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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5]