I recorded two minuets that tend to occur early in most piano teaching curricula, often attributed to J.S. Bach. It turns out that they're by a guy named Christian Petzold.
The first, more famous Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh.114, is immediately recognizable, and formed the basis of the 60s hit "A Lover's Concerto".
BWV Anh.114 by kcr
If you're familiar with Bach's work, once someone points it out, it's almost painfully obvious that this isn't actually Bach. (Although there's some clunkiness--repeated notes--that are only really obvious if you're playing it.)
The second one, in G minor, BWV Anh.115 is less famous, and I think more plausibly Bachish:
BWV Anh.115 by kcr
I can imagine Petzold mailing Bach a copy of the first, and Bach responding with the second. (This undoubtedly did not happen, I have no reason to believe that I am correct, but I do like the second one much better.)
I sequenced these in Ableton Live mostly to hear what the timings were like as written. All sound was generated by my Ensoniq SQ80, an interesting piece of hardware.
(This serves as part of an ongoing series to me trying to highlight the various bits of noisemaking hardware I've acquired.)
Ha! Anna Magdalena's Notebook was crucial/foundational for me studying piano. Even now, both of those pieces are still firmly in the "Bach" category for me -- because those are the first pieces I learned by (allegedly) Bach. I can't *un*-Bach them.
...those aren't by Bach? o_O
My childhood!
(Seriously, I learned both of those in piano, and would never have guessed. Wow. Hunh.)
funky. i know i have these in a collection of "works by bach" to play on a pianothingamabob.
I vaguely recall a warning that the Anna Magdalena notebook was a compilation and not a composition, but I too will have difficulty un-Bach-ing those two works. Particularly since they go beyond the piano for me: in our family we use them (usually as a matched pair) for trying out recorders, saxophones, and whatever other instrument my father is busy rebuilding at the time.
Thank you for the info and commentary.