J.S. Bach & C.P.E. Bach: Solos for Flute

That the members of the Bach family had great interest for the flute is absolutely unquestionable. In particular, Johann Sebastian Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel dedicated page upon page of their music to the instrument, giving it the highest value. It is also important to emphasise how the creative path taken by each of these two extraordinary figures, in the case of the flute, often overlapped. Today, those boundaries are not always easily distinguished. This is certainly true of the Sonata in C major BWV 1033, which does not have particularly reliable sources to go by and whose paternity has always been a controversial issue. In 1979, however, Robert Marshall theorised that the work had originally been written by Johann Sebastian as a sonata for solo flute and that, later on, Carl Philipp Emanuel added a figured bass part. Apart from the recognised authority of the source, there are many reasons for accepting such a hypothesis, which could also lead to the view that Johann Sebastian had intended to write the Sonata in C major as an ideal counterpart for the Partita in A minor BWV 1013. This latter composition was originally called Solo for the flute and can easily be set alongside the other compositions written by Johann Sebastian for solo instruments. As in the Sonatas and Partitas for violin, those same elements of extreme challenge are also present in the compositions written for solo flute. The instrument is completely projected towards the music, beyond the physical limits of the instrument and the technical limits of the player. Arguably, the works written for flute could never match the texture of those composed for violin, but the Partita BWV 1013 represented, around 1718, the most advanced limit the flute had ever reached. The serene and courteous expression the instrument had known until then was, in the case of the Bachian compositions, only to be found in the Sarabande. A different expression again can be found in the Sonata in A minor WOT 132, published by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in 1763. The repertoire the Hamburg Bach dedicated to the flute, reputedly spanning the period from 1739 to 1788, illustrates in an exhaustive manner the extraordinary expressive and technical evolution of the instrument. The writing of this work is perfectly in line with the musical character of Carl Philipp Emanuel, always reaching further than the espressive limits customary to that period. In particular, in the opening Adagio, a long cadence-like passage grows with great dynamic contrast and a remarkable relation between sound and silence. This is an example of the emotive impetus that frequently characterises the music of this great composer. The Bachian repertoire for solo flute is, at least for those who have dedicated their lives to this instrument, the extreme essence of music. It is hard to imagine exactly what the creative spark was that was able to generate such fertile ground where, despite an obstinate devotion to philology, for both the old and modern instrument, we find unequalled space to cultivate our sensitivity and imagination to discover, day by day, music that has never been written and never been played.