Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, Trio in B minor for flute, violin, continuo Wq. 143

  1. Allegro
  2. Adagio
  3. Presto

Performed March 19, 2006 during the Kirk Hall Hauzkonzert by: James Hall (flute), Elizabeth Suh Lane (violin), Martin Storey (cello), Janet Kraybill (harpsichord).


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C.P.E. Bach - Trio in B minor, Wq. 143

  1. Allegro
  2. Adagio
  3. Presto

Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, son of J.S. Bach, received his entire musical education from his father and had teh advantage of growing up in the thriving musical climate in Leipzig where J.S. Bach worked as Music Director. Of all J.S. Bach's children, C.P.E. had the most prominent musical career, and he was, like so many of his contemporary musicians, successful not only as a composer, but also as a teacher, performer, and author.

Aware of the formidable shadow that his father's musical influence cast, C.P.E. desired to form his own unique compositional voice and favored what he and his peers considered a more expressive, easily understandable style of writing over J.S. Bach's old-fashioned, austere musical language. However, the Leipzig Trios -- a set of five trios written in 1731, of which the Trio in B minor, Wq. 143 is a part - are examples of some of C.P.E. Bach's more conservative writing and have many musical features similar to the works of J.S. Bach, perhaps because C.P.E. was studying at the Leipzig University and still living with his parents at the time that they were written. The Trio in B minor for Flute, Violin, and Continuo displays hints of what would become a more dramatic, emotional style in C.P.E.'s later years, especially in the brooding first movement, while maintaining a conservative approach to counterpoint and harmony.