Bach Cello Suite #4: Sarabande

The film "Bach Cello Suite #4: Sarabande" is a 1997 experimental short film by Canadian director Atom Egoyan. The film intersperses scenes of cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the Sarabande from Johann Sebastian Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello with vignettes featuring Egoyan's wife.1

The sarabande itself is a slow, stately dance that became popular in France in the 17th century, evolving from an earlier, more disreputable Spanish dance. As a musical form, it is a stylized version of this dance and is often included as a movement within a larger musical suite. Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, written around 1720, are a collection of six pieces that include dance movements like the sarabande, along with preludes and other dance forms. These suites are considered essential repertoire for professional cellists.23