Originally dismissed as curiosities, J. S. Bach's Cello Suites are now understood as the pinnacle of composition for unaccompanied cello. This handbook examines how and why Bach composed these highly innovative works. It explains the characteristics of each of the dance types used in the suites and reveals the compositional methods that achieve cohesion within each suite. The author discusses the four manuscript copies of Bach's lost original and the valuable evidence they contain on how the Suites might be performed. He explores how, after around 1860, the Cello Suites gradually entered the concert hall, where they initially received a mixed critical and audience reception. The Catalan cellist Pablo Casals extensively popularized them through his concerts and recordings, setting the paradigm for several generations to follow. The Cello Suites now have a global resonance, influencing music from Benjamin Britten's Cello Suites to J-pop, and media from K-drama to Ingmar Bergman's films.

• Provides cellists and other musicians who play or study Bach's Cello Suites with reliable information about such topics as when, why, and how they were composed
• Explains the dance styles used in Bach's Cello Suites and what makes each suite cohesive
• Provides a detailed account of the first cellists to perform the Cello Suites and how their early audiences and critics responded to this unusual music
• Illuminates the wide range of ways Bach's Cello Suites have been played and heard over the past three centuries, both in the concert hall and in popular music, theater, film, television, anime, and modern dance