Description

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Menuet, BVW Anh. 114
Arranged for bassoon quartet by Michael A. Grant
 
The Menuet in G major can be found in a notebook belonging to J.S. Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena. Until relatively recently it was attributed to Bach himself, however in recent years it has been discovered that it was actually composed by an organist called Christian Petzold, as part of a harpsichord suite.* Today it is one of the most well-known melodies in classical music, due in part to its use in the 1965 pop song ‘A Lover’s Concerto’.
 
This arrangement can be performed as a bassoon quartet or (by eliminating the optional 4th part) as a trio.
 
*I have stuck with the original attribution for the following reasons:
1) For ease of identification, as most people consider Bach the composer.
2) By the time I found out that Bach didn’t write it I’d already engraved all the parts, and I don’t want to have to re-do them.