Bach Sonatas

Abstract

Carl PhiJipp Emanuel Bach was born in Weimar on March 8, 1714, the second surviving son of J.S.Bach and his first wife, Maria Barbara. When Emanuel was three years old, his family moved to Cothen, tor his father was appointed as the capellmeister and director of chamber music tor Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. At the age of six, Emanuel was laced with his mother's death, and the following year, his father married Anna Magdalcna. In 1723, the family moved again, this time to Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian succeeded Johann Kuhnau as cantor and music director at St. Thomas. According to his short autobiography, Emanuel studied composition and keyboard playing solely with his father. From 1731 to 1734, he studied law at the University of Leipzig, then for over three more years at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder, although bv this time he was supporting himself as an organist, keyboard teacher, and composer. Upon completion of his studies in 1738, he went to Berlin and entered the court of Crown Prince Frederick in an informal capacity, accompanying the royal chamber concerts. When the prince became King of Prussia in 1740, the twenty-six-year-old Emanuel officially became the first harpsichordist in the court and accompanied the almost nightly concerts held in the Sans-Souci Palace, where the king himself was the flute soloist. Among members of the musical circle in the court of Frederick the Great, aside from Emanuel, were Johann Gottlieb and Karl Hcinrich Graun, joined later by Johann Friedrich Agricola, Karl Fasch, and Johann Philipp Kirnberger.

These two Sonates in G major Tor flute and harpsichord obbligato (Wotquenne Catalogue 85 and 86) were written in Potsdam in 1754 and 1755, while C.P.E. Bach was in the service of king Frederick II. Of Prussia. Both sonatas also exist in genuine trio Sonata versions: W. 85 as Sonata for flute, violin and basso continuo IW. 152) and as Sonata for two violins and basso continuo (W. 157); W. 86 as Trio Sonata for flute, violin and basso continuo (W. 153). In our present Version, the right hand of the harpsi-chordist takes over one of the concertante parts. Only when this part rests docs the harpsichord flilfill die funetion of a thoroughbass. This edition is based on copies by Westphal, a friend of the composer. The score reproduces this version while maintaining the characteristic features of C.P.E. Bach's writing.