Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Source: NAXOS

Born on 8 March 1714 in Weimar, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (aka "the other Bach") was son to Johann Sebastian Bach. Noted for his symphonies and keyboard pieces, especially sonatas and concertos, as well as chamber and choral works, among all of J.S. Bach's composing descendants CPE most shares stature similar to his father's. Though Carl and his brothers had been taught music by his father, all intending to become professional musicians, Carl also studied law from 1731 to 1738, obtaining his degree. His brothers studied jurisprudence as well. This was done to obtain better station as a musician, a little like joining the military as enlisted without rank versus as an officer if you go to college first.

Carl's first more certain compositions date to 1730 with two marches and two polonaises among other works. Those were followed in 1731 with 'Minuet' in C major, 'Sonata' in B-flat major, 'Sonata' in F major, 'Violin Sonata' in D major, 'Violin Sonata' in D minor, 'Violin Sonata' in A major, 'Flute Sonata' in C major and six 'Trio Sonata's. Carl's 1730 titles begin with H 1/1. "H" numbers in Carl Bach are from the 'Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach' by E. Eugene Helm published by Yale University Press in 1989. Carl's works from 1730 don't have "Wq" numbers which don't begin until 1731 with 'Minuet' as Wq.111. "Wq' numbering is from 'Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach' by Alfred Wotquenne published in 1904 and 1972. Sometimes "Kast" numbers are seen which refer to 'Die Bach-Handschriften der Berliner Staatsbibliothek' by Paul Kast published in 1958. Those don't address the corpus of Carl Bach, but catalog manuscripts in the Berlin State Library. The Oboe Sonata below may have been authored in 1735 while Carl was yet a law student. Originally scored for oboe and continuo, it's been arranged for oboe and piano:

'Oboe Sonata'   G minor   H 549   Wq.135   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp for oboe and continuo c 1735 or earlier   Later revised   IMSLP

Oboe: Yubin Lim (임유빈)   Piano: Aya Matsushita

Upon acquiring his law degree Bach obtained employment in Berlin from Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (Frederick II) in 1738, becoming a member of the orchestra in 1740 upon Frederick becoming king. Frederick was himself a composer and played the violin. Bach was among the earliest piano, versus harpsichord, virtuosos. His father, Johann Sebastian, preferred the harpsichord to the piano in its early stages of development. The piano had been invented as the pianoforte in 1700 in Florence by Bartolomeo Cristofori [Wikipedia / Your Dictionary] and would spend a century gradually becoming the piano as we know it today. Until then, though not popular with most composers, Carl was already known throughout Europe as a master on the early clavier (piano) by the time he joined Frederick's court. He had also written some thirty sonatas and such for harpsichord and clavichord by then.

'Concerto for 2 Harpsichords'   F major   H 408   Wq.46   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp for 2 harpsichords / strings / continuo   1740 Berlin   IMSLP

OSI Orchestra dela Svizzera Italiana

Harpsichord: Ton Koopman / Tini Mathot

'Harpsichord Concerto'   E minor   H 418   Wq.15   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp for harpsichord / strings / continuo   1745 Berlin   IMSLP

Győr University Orchestra conducted by Gergely Ménesi

Piano: András Kemenes

'Magnificat'   D major   H 772   Wq.215   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp in Potsdam 1749   Revised 1780-82   Text: Luke 1:46-55    IMSLP

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / RIAS Kammerchor / Hans-Christoph Rademann

Soprano: Elizabeth Watts   Alto: Wiebe Lehmkuhl

Tenor: Lothar Odinius   Bass: Markus Eiche

It was 1753 when Carl's first volume of 'Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen' ('Essay on the true way to play the keyboard') appeared in Berlin [text / digital copy]. The second volume followed in 1762. His 'Flute Concerto' below was an adaptation of his 'Keyboard Concerto' in G major of 1755 composed in Berlin (H 444 / Wq.34):

'Flute Concerto'   G major   H 445   Wq.169   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp for flute / strings / continuo   1755 Berlin   IMSLP

Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn

Flute: James Galway

'Symphony'   E-flat major   H 654   Wq.179   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp 1757 Berlin

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

In 1768 Bach became director of music for the municipality of Hamburg, a free city within the Catholic Holy Roman Empire which was predominantly Lutheran. Bach also acquired the patronage of Frederick's sister, Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723-87) who was herself a composer. Carl then began to concentrate less on keyboard and more on sacred music such as cantatas, for Protestant Anna had been elected princess-abbess of the Abbey of Quedlinburg in 1755. The next twenty years saw Carl producing some seventy liturgical works along with twenty-one settings of the Passion. I don't include any of Carl's later sacred works, substituting Anna Amalia's best-known work, her 'Sonata' for flute and continuo in galant style [Raine-Wright].

Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia

Painting by Antoine Pesne sometime before 1757

Source: Wikipedia

'Flute Sonata'   F major   Abbess Anna Amalia

Comp for flute and continuo   1771   IMSLP   Score (for organ)

Flute: Nicole Esposito   Harpsichord: Gregory Hand

University of Iowa School of Music   2013

'Presto'   Movement 3 of 3   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

From 'Symphony'   D major   H 663   Wq.183/1

Comp 1775 Hamburg   Pub 1780

Orquesta de Cámara de Jerusalém / Mendi Rodan

'Flute Sonata'   G major   H 564   Wq.133   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp for flute and continuo   1786 Hamburg   IMSLP

Eckhart Duo: Flute: Enrico Sartori / Piano: Giuseppe Santucci

'Fantasia'   F-sharp minor   H 300   Wq.67   Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Comp for clavichord   1787 Hamburg   IMSLP

Eckhart Duo: Flute: Enrico Sartori / Piano: Giuseppe Santucci

Not two years after the death of Anna on 30 March of 1787 Carl himself died in Hamburg on 14 December 1788.