Cello Concertos

Abstract

The three Cello Concertos of Carl Philip Emanuel Bach are transcriptions of concertos originally written for harpsichord and strings and it was possibly because of the nature of his employment under Frederick the Great that he arranged these concertos first for flute and strings, following the arrangement with a further transcription for cello. Whatever their original form, the concertos remain fine examples of idiomatic virtuoso writing for the solo instrument. The transcriptions of the Concertos in A minor, A major and R flat major date apparently from 1750, 1751 and 1753 respectively. Cellists at the Prussian court at this time include Carlo Graziani, teacher of the King's nephew, who succeeded his uncle in 1786 as Friedrich Wilhelm II and whose interest in the cello encouraged Haydn and Mozart to give it prominence in string quartets and Beethoven to compose sonatas for the instrument.