Piano Music - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

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📖 "[C.P.E.] Bach is the father, we the children."
Joseph Haydn, quoted in Headington, The Bodley Head History of Western Music (1974)

📖 "His [C.P.E. Bach's] performance today convinced me of what I had suggested before from his works; that he is not only one of the greatest compsosers that ever existed, for keyed instruments, but the best player in point of expression; for others, perhaps, have had as rapid execution: however, he possesses every style; though he confines himself chiefly to the expressive."
Klopstock in Present State of Music

📖 "To know Bach completely one must hear the wealth of his imagination, the profound sentiment of his heart, his constant enthusiasm as he improvises on his Silbermann clavichord."
Reichard in Musikalischer Almanach, Alethinopel (1782)

📖 "Bach's fame as the founder of a school was achieved [not only through those who studied directly with him] but through the agency of his music and the Essay. The latter was called by Haydn 'the school of all schools.' And Mozart, Beethoven, and Clementi added their endorsements, speaking uniformly of Bach as one whose music must be studied, not simply played. Beethoven, after hearing the young Czerny perform in 1801, turned to the father and said, 'The boy has talent; I shall take him as my own student and teach him. Send him to me once a week. Be sure to procure Emanuel Bach's instruction book on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, so that he may bring it to his next lesson.' Czerny goes on to relate that Beethoven's method followed the Essay closely, and included the playing of the Probestücke."
William J. Mitchell in Introduction to C. P. E. Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments

📖 "As the principal practitioner of the Empfindsamkeit, with its emphasis on the feelings, the 'affections,' with the clavichord as its best-loved instrument, Bach made technical mastery of the keyboard instrument only a contributory factor to the expressive end that he sought. Music here was far removed from a decorative art, from abstract patterns of sound; it was, above all else, a vehicle for the expression of the emotions. Music must languish, it must startle, it must be gay, it must move boldly from one sentiment to another; these were the requirements that had to be met by the composer. And the performer must understand the true content of each piece that he played. He must transmit accurately and faithfully its expressive nuances to an audience whose heart must be stirred. This was the core of the aesthetic doctrine of the Berlin school. Its artistic parallels were the English sentimental novels and the romantic Germans of the literary movement that became known later as the Sturm und Drang."
William J. Mitchell in Introduction to C. P. E. Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments

📖 "Carl Philipp Emanuel (the "Berlin" or "Hamburg" Bach), the second of the surviving sons of J. S. Bach, was intended for the law, and for this reason his father allowed his musical fancy to turn more in the direction of the light "gallant" style; and to this very tendency he owes his greatness, for by it he became the father of modern instrumental musio, the precursor of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven in the department of the sonata, symphony, etc., which he clothed in more pleasing modern dress. His career was simple enough. He went to Frankfort on the Oder in order to study jurisprudence, but instead of doing this he founded a choral union. In 1738 he went to Berlin, and in 1740 became chamber cembalist to Frederick the Great, a rare musical dilettante, who often sorely plagued Bach when the latter had to accompany his flute performances. The Seven Years' War cooled the musical ardour of the king, and therefore in 1767 Bach asked for his discharge in order to take the place of Telemann as church musical director at Hamburg. He died, highly esteemed, of a chest complaint. For us his most important work is the " Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen" (1753-62, two parts), the principal source for explaining the ornaments of the previous century. The number of his compositions is very great, especially for clavier (210 solo pieces, 52 concertos, many sonatas, etc.). In the department of church music he was certainly prolific, but less important (22 Passions, many cantatas, two oratorios, etc.). K. H. Bitter wrote the life of the sons of Bach, "K. Ph. Emanuel B. uud W. Friedemann B. und deren Brüder," 1868, 2 vols. ; 2nd edit. 1880). H. v. Bülow has republished six clavier sonatas of K. Ph. E. Bach (Peters), and C. F. Baumgart the complete collection of sonatas "fur Kenner und Liebhaber" (Leuckart, six books), E. Pauer, eighteen of his popular pieces (Augener's Edition)."
Hugo Riemann Dictionary of Music (1896)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

1714 (Weimar) - 1788 (Hamburg)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German composer, church musician and teacher. Among his most famous pupils was his youngest brother Johann Sebastian Bach and the Czech pianist-composer Jan Ladislav Dussek.

📖 "My principal aim, especially of late, has been directed toward playing and composing as vocally as possible for the keyboard, despite its defective sustaining powers. This is no easy matter if the sound is not to be too thin or the noble simplicity of melody ruined by excessive noise… I believe that music must, first and foremost, stir the heart. This cannot be achieved through mere rattling, drumming, or arpeggiation, at least not by me."
Bach's Autobiography, quoted in William J. Mitchell in Introduction to C. P. E. Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments

📖 "It is because I have never liked excessive uniformity in composition or taste, because I have heard many different kinds of good things, because it has always been my opinion that the good should be accepted regardless of where it may be found, even when it appears in small details of a piece; it is because of these considerations and the assistance provided by a God-given natural ability that the variety which is attributed to my compositions has arisen."
Bach's Autobiography, quoted in William J. Mitchell in Introduction to C. P. E. Bach's Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments

📖 "I have observed with greatest satisfaction the change that has come over the world of keyboard playing since the publication of my Essay. I can assert without boasting that since its appearance, teaching and playing have improved."
In Hamburger unparteiischer Correspondent (11 January 1773)

📖 "What comprises good performance? The ability through singing or playing to make the ear conscious of the true content and affect of a composition."

📖 "A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved. He must of necessity feel all of the affects that he hopes to arouse in his audience, for the revealing of his own humour will stimulate a like humour in the listener."

📖 "According to my principles, every master has his true and certain value. Praise and criticism cannot change any of that. Only the work itself praises and criticizes the master, and therefore I leave to everyone his own value."

Quotes by Carl Philip Emanuel Bach

From the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach article in the Grove Music Dictionary:

(b Weimar, March 8, 1714; d Hamburg, Dec 14, 1788). Composer and church musician, the second surviving son of (7) Johann Sebastian Bach (24) and his first wife, Maria Barbara. He was the most important composer in Protestant Germany during the second half of the 18th century, and enjoyed unqualified admiration and recognition particularly as a teacher and keyboard composer.
(Christoph Wolff and Ulrich Leisinger)

Download and explore the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on the Petrucci Music Library website.
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Download Keyboard Music by C. P. E. Bach

👉 Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel 46 Anfangsstücke, Wq. 259

Explore Recordings of C. P. E. Bach's Keyboard Music

Sonata in B Minor, H.245
Georges Cziffra, piano

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