Hamburg Sinfonias Nos. 1 - 6

Abstract

By the 1760s the symphony had largely replaced the concerto as the most popular large-scale instrumental genre in Austria and the south of Germany. In Mannheim and Vienna, the two most progressive musical centres of the mid-eighteenth century, a group of exceptionally talented composers were collectively forging a new language which would dominate musical thinking for decades to come. The eventual emergence of Vienna as "the imperial seat of music as well as of power", to quote Burney, was due as much to the work of Hofmann, Vanhal, Dittersdorf and Ordonez as to the giants Haydn and Mozart. The north of Germany, by comparison, was a relative backwater in the evolution of the symphony. North German wrilers on music, reflecting a long tradition of serious-mindedness, regarded the new genre, and indeed the new 'classical' style in general, with contempt, considering it as frivolous and indulgent. The very greatness of their own musical tradition blinded many critics and composers to the importance of the revolution occurring elsewhere. Through a combination of natural conservatism, stubbornness and pride, the north of Germany slid into a lingering Baroque twilight. Nowhere was this more evident than at the court of Frederick the Greal where Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) spent 28 years as court harpsichordist. In the early years of Frederick's reign, musical life at the Potsdam and Berlin courts was stimulating and progressive. Frederick, a fine amateur flautist and very proficient composer, involved himself in every detail. He chose artists, hired and fired instrumentalists and singers, commissioned works and expressed forceful judgements on their artistic merits. As he became older and more deeply involved in military matters, however, the court began to stagnate and the creative energy of its most brilliant star, Emanuel Bach, became increasingly frustrated. Although relations between the king and his harpsichordist were strained, Frederick was reluctant to let him go.