C. P. E. Bach

The second son of Johann Sebastian Bach, C.P.E. Bach was an important composer in his own right, as well as a writer and performer on keyboard instruments. He composed roughly a thousand works in all the leading genres of the period, with the exception of opera, and Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all acknowledged his influence. He was also the author of a two-volume encyclopedic book about performance on keyboard instrument. C.P.E. Bach and his music have always been the subject of significant scholarship and publication but interest has sharply increased over the past two or three decades from performers as well as music historians. This volume incorporates important writings not only on the composer and his chief works but also on theoretical issues and performance questions. The focus throughout is on relatively recent scholarship otherwise available only in hard-to-access sources.

David Schulenberg is author of The Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (2014), The Music of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (2010), and The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach (2d edn., 2006), as well as the textbook and anthology Music of the Baroque (3d edn., 2013). He has also contributed volumes to the critical editions Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works and Johann Sebastian Bach: Organ Works. A performer on harpsichord, clavichord, and fortepiano, he appears on CD recordings of chamber music by C. P. E. Bach, Quantz, and King Frederick ’the Great’ of Prussia on the Albany Records, Hungaroton, and Naxos labels.