Decoding the Music Masterpieces: Bach’s Six Solo Cello Suites

Russell Crowe in a scene from “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” in the in which Bach’s Prelude from Suite No. 1 is played. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Universal Studios and Miramax Film Corp

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Solo Cello Suites are some of the most iconic classical music works. They have inspired not only cellists and audiences but other art forms as well, and they have been featured in ballet and theater productions, even in films.

In Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander” (2003), Jack Aubrey’s (Russell Crowe) first sighting of the Galapagos Islands is accompanied by the Prelude from Suite No. 1.