This Suite was written for harpsichord or piano. It consists of three dances, pavane, galiard and reel, and a song without words. With the Galiard rapid triple time and characteristic syncopations form the rhythmical basis; harmonically the starting point is the recurrent contradiction of minor by major thirds, a feature of late 16th and early 17th century English music. The Air is an uncomplicated song-melody; the second verse is given a single flowing accompanying voice-part and this two-part section provides contrast to the three-part harmony of the opening verse and coda.

The Suite was dedicated to Professor Hans Pischner, an expert harpsichordist. In 1952, as music director of the Berliner Rundfunk, Professor Pischner arranged the recording of the opera Wat Tyler, and thus paved the way to its stage production in Leipzig Opera House in 1953, after which invitations to compose three more operas followed. The last of these, Joe Hill - The Man Who Never Died, was commissioned and first performed by the German State Opera, Berlin, where Professor Pischner became the Intendant in the 1970s.