Sonata in G Major for flute and continuo (Wq 127, H 554)
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata for flute and harpsichord in G Major (Wq 127, H 554). This is Bach's second sonata in G major which was written in 1739 for Bach's employer, the Prussian King Frederick the Great, or King's flute teacher J.J. Quantz who was also famous flute maker and composer at that time.
Barthold Kuijken:
"Start with his harpsichord music, not with the flute music. Learn what a clavichord is, what it can do and cannot do, and its expressive means, discover his language through his own medium, his own instruments. And then see how he speaks the same language for another instrument. If you approach C.P.E. Bach from the bass line to the top, you discover a language. It’s like learning German - you learn his syntax, and also the clarity of enunciation and pronunciation. The end of a syllable has a meaning. Whether you have “Dem” with an “m,” or “Den” with an “n,” it makes a
huge difference. You need to see the end of a word and place it at an appropriate moment. So I think the keyboard technique of C.P.E. Bach has a lot to do with that."
Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was a German composer, performer, and pedagogue who served as a critical bridge between the Baroque and Classical eras. The second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was more famous than his father during his own lifetime and was widely regarded as the "Great Bach" by his contemporaries.
Born in Weimar to J.S. Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, he received his music education exclusively from his father, quickly establishing himself as a virtuoso on keyboard instruments, including the harpsichord and clavichord.
He studied law at the University of Leipzig (1731) and the University of Frankfurt an der Oder (1735), earning a degree in 1738, but ultimately chose to pursue a music career professionally.
For nearly 30 years, he served as the court harpsichordist for Frederick the Great of Prussia. During this time, he was known as the "Berlin Bach" and published his highly influential sets of "Prussian" and "Württemberg" sonatas. In 1768, he succeeded his godfather, Georg Philipp Telemann, as the Director of Music for Hamburg's five main churches. In this role, often called the "Hamburg Bach," he composed over 20 settings of the Passion and numerous choral works.
He was the leading representative of the "sensitive style," which focused on intimate, shifting emotions, sudden harmonic surprises, and expressive pauses. His work directly influenced Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Mozart famously said of him, "He is the father, we are the children".
His "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments" (1753) remains a primary source for 18th-century performance practice and was the first to advocate the standard use of the thumb in keyboard playing.