Cpe Bach (1714-1788)

Series

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

2019

Cpe Bach And The Nazi Hoard

20190701

20220207 (R3)

This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod tells the story of the loss - and eventual rediscovery in 1999 - of much of CPE Bach's music, following a fascinating journey.

From 1750, for the next 60 years the name 'Bach' was almost exclusively associated with the initials 'CPE'. Born in 1714, Carl Philipp Emanuel's influence resonates to this day: his book on keyboard playing permanently changed the practice; his music changed the direction of travel. Bach left his life's work tidy and well organised on his death in 1788, with most works still in print. His estate was largely sold to Felix Mendelssohn's father Abraham, but by the 1800s CPE Bach's music had all but disappeared.

The collection of CPE Bach manuscripts found its way into the library of the Sing-Akademie in Berlin, one of the most prestigious performing institutions in the Prussian capital, closely associated with the royal court. This was the finest collection of Bach family manuscripts in the world. In the face of Allied bombing in 1943, the Sing-Akademie was one of over 500 mostly private collections from the Berlin area to be evacuated. It was carefully packaged up into 14 crates and sent to a remote castle in Silesia, in present-day Poland. As the war ended, the collection was found by the Red Army, and disappeared from public view for the next 50 years.

L'Aly Rupalich, Wq 117 No 27

Ana-Marija Markovina, piano

Keyboard Concerto in D minor, Wq 23

Michael Rische, piano

Leipzig Kammerorchester

Morten Schuldt-Jensen, conductor

Heilig, Wq 217

Hilke Helling, contralto

Rheinische Kantorei

Das Kleine Konzert

Hermann Max, conductor

Flute Concerto in D major, Wq 13

Il Gardellino

Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod tells the story of the loss - and later rediscovery - of CPE Bach's music.

2019

A Very Modern Composer

20190702

20220208 (R3)

This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod explores contemporary angles within CPE Bach's life and music, as well as his life at court in Berlin.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was many things in his lifetime: composer, virtuoso harpsichord player and improviser extraordinaire, author, businessman - publishing his own music - biographer - of his father and other members of his family, and teacher. As the growing amateur tradition of music making among the middle classes required pieces that were playable domestically, Bach was quick to appreciate the potential for him to fill the gap.

Publishing rivalled composition and performance for importance in his professional life. Much like musicians using crowd-funding sites today, Bach introduced a subscription system for his fans, in which each work's printing and distribution was financed by prepublication sales. Haydn, Mozart, Weber and Beethoven all studied Bach's Essay on keyboard playing attentively. It's a practical guide for performers, with chapters on ornamentation, performance and improvisation.

Solfeggio in C Minor, Wq 117 No 2

Ana-Marija Markovina, piano

Free Fantasie in F sharp minor, Wq 67

Andreas Staier, fortepiano

Licht der Welt, von Gott gegeben, H 811 (Ehre sei Gott in der H怀he)

Jan Kobow, tenor

Himlische Cantorey

Les Amis de Philippe

Ludger R退my, conductor

Rondo II in D Minor, Wq 61 No 4

Christine Schornsheim, clavichord

Flute Sonata in A minor, Wq 132

Emanuel Pahud

Eugen Cicero, piano

Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod explores contemporary angles on CPE Bach's life and music.

2019

The Sentimental Style

20190703

20220209 (R3)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's music sits somewhere between the high baroque of his father, JS Bach, and the stripping back of ornamentation by Haydn and Mozart. It's often described using the German word for sensitive or sentimental, 'Empfindsam'.

The Empfindsamer style aimed to express true and natural' feelings, in contrast to the baroque, and drew on a very wide range of cultural influences: poets, painters, philosophers and writers, in particular Laurence Sterne, whose Sentimental Journey was translated into German as Empfindsame Reise. All of that is far from the almost exclusively theological focus of JS Bach. For Carl Philipp Emanuel, music wasn't about technical brilliance, but all about stirring the emotions of the listener. Bach believed that music should reflect human nature, and hold up a mirror to the emotional world of man. The emotions should be stirred, and this should have a cathartic effect.

Symphony in D Major, Wq 183 No 1

Marek Toporowski, continuo

Solamente Naturali

Didier Talpain, conductor

Fantasia No. 2 in C Major, Wq 59 No 6

Christine Schornsheim, clavichord

Wer ist so würdig als du; Ach, ruft mich einst zu seinen Freuden, H 805 (Nun danket alle Gott)

Jan Kobow, tenor

Himlische Cantorey

Les Amis de Philippe

Ludger R退my, conductor

Sonata in C Minor, Wq 78

Laurent Albrecht Breuninger, violin

Piet Kuijken, fortepiano

Morgengesang am Sch怀pfungsfeste, W 239

Barbara Schlick, soprano

Johanna Koslowsky, soprano

Rheinische Kantorei

Das Kleine Konzert

Hermann Max, conductor

Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod explores the sound of CPE Bach's music, written in the Empfindsamer Stil.

2019

Reinvention In Hamburg

20190704

20220210 (R3)

This week we look at how CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod explores CPE Bach's time in Hamburg, freed from the court of Frederick the Great, and embarking on a huge amount of vocal writing.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach had felt constrained by court life, and never appreciated by the king. On the death of his godfather Telemann, Bach secured the plum job of Kapelmeister in Hamburg. In his new Hamburg post he had to compose at least one new sacred work every week to satisfy the demands of the city's churches. Bach soon found himself with a large circle of friends, of the kind that he had had in Berlin, including preachers, university professors, and writers and poets - among them the poets Gotthold Lessing and Friedrich Klopstock. In Hamburg, Bach found the time for the extracurricular composing he had always wanted to do.

Magnificat anima mea Dominum, Et misericordia eius, Gloria Patri et Filio, Sicut erat in principio (Magnificat, Wq 215)

RIAS Kammerchor

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor

Quartet in D Major, Wq 94

Nicholas McGegan, flute

Catherine Mackintosh, viola

Anthony Pleeth, cello

Christopher Hogwood, fortepiano

Rondo in A minor Wq 56 No 5

Christine Schornsheim, clavichord

Gott f䀀hret auf mit Jauchzen, Wq 240 (Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu)

Rheinische Kantorei

Das Kleine Konzert

Hermann Max, conductor

Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod explores CPE Bach's time in Hamburg and his prolific vocal writing.

2019

05 LAST

A Bid For Posterity

20190705

20220211 (R3)

This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod relives the once-in-a-lifetime moment when the first manuscript was drawn out of a crate in Kiev to reveal the stamp 'Sing-Akademie zu Berlin', and the magnitude of the treasure trove was revealed. He explores how the discovery has changed the way Bach and his music is seen in 2019.

The collection of Bach family manuscripts was thought destroyed or irretrievably lost. But in the late 1950s, a few choir books from the Sing-Akademie were returned from Moscow to East Berlin, suggesting the collection may have found its way to Moscow. Eventually a retired librarian in Kiev revealed that restricted music deposits at the Kiev Conservatoire had been transferred to another institution in Ukraine in 1973.

Finally, the music was traced to the Archive-Museum of Literature and Art in Kiev. The excitement of the discovery spread around the world - the music historian and Bach biographer Christoph Wolff said, `All of a sudden you understand the creative mind of a great composer. As an historian, I would have to say this was clearly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don't think it will happen again. There is no other collection of that magnitude and that importance around.`

Leite mich nach deinem Willen, H 835

Himlische Cantorey

Les Amis de Philippe

Ludger R退my, conductor

Cello Concerto in A major, Wq 172 (2nd mvt)

Raphael Wallfisch

Scottish Ensemble

Jonathan Morton, conductor

Symphony in B minor, Wq 182 No 5

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Rebecca Miller, conductor

Sonata in C major, Wq 55 No 1 (Für Kenner und Liebhaber)

Gabor Antalffy, harpsichord

Double Concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano in E Flat major, Wq 47

Michael Behringer, harpsichord

Christine Schornsheim, fortepiano

Freiburger Barockorchester

Gottfried von der Goltz, conductor

Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales

Donald Macleod relives the historic moment when the Sing-Akademie was rediscovered in 1999

Episodes

Series	Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
2019	01	Cpe Bach And The Nazi Hoard	20190701	20220207 (R3)	This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod tells the story of the loss - and eventual rediscovery in 1999 - of much of CPE Bach's music, following a fascinating journey. From 1750, for the next 60 years the name 'Bach' was almost exclusively associated with the initials 'CPE'. Born in 1714, Carl Philipp Emanuel's influence resonates to this day: his book on keyboard playing permanently changed the practice; his music changed the direction of travel. Bach left his life's work tidy and well organised on his death in 1788, with most works still in print. His estate was largely sold to Felix Mendelssohn's father Abraham, but by the 1800s CPE Bach's music had all but disappeared. The collection of CPE Bach manuscripts found its way into the library of the Sing-Akademie in Berlin, one of the most prestigious performing institutions in the Prussian capital, closely associated with the royal court. This was the finest collection of Bach family manuscripts in the world. In the face of Allied bombing in 1943, the Sing-Akademie was one of over 500 mostly private collections from the Berlin area to be evacuated. It was carefully packaged up into 14 crates and sent to a remote castle in Silesia, in present-day Poland. As the war ended, the collection was found by the Red Army, and disappeared from public view for the next 50 years. L'Aly Rupalich, Wq 117 No 27 Ana-Marija Markovina, piano Keyboard Concerto in D minor, Wq 23 Michael Rische, piano Leipzig Kammerorchester Morten Schuldt-Jensen, conductor Heilig, Wq 217 Hilke Helling, contralto Rheinische Kantorei Das Kleine Konzert Hermann Max, conductor Flute Concerto in D major, Wq 13 Il Gardellino Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales Donald Macleod tells the story of the loss - and later rediscovery - of CPE Bach's music.
2019	02	A Very Modern Composer	20190702	20220208 (R3)	This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod explores contemporary angles within CPE Bach's life and music, as well as his life at court in Berlin. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was many things in his lifetime: composer, virtuoso harpsichord player and improviser extraordinaire, author, businessman - publishing his own music - biographer - of his father and other members of his family, and teacher. As the growing amateur tradition of music making among the middle classes required pieces that were playable domestically, Bach was quick to appreciate the potential for him to fill the gap. Publishing rivalled composition and performance for importance in his professional life. Much like musicians using crowd-funding sites today, Bach introduced a subscription system for his fans, in which each work's printing and distribution was financed by prepublication sales. Haydn, Mozart, Weber and Beethoven all studied Bach's Essay on keyboard playing attentively. It's a practical guide for performers, with chapters on ornamentation, performance and improvisation. Solfeggio in C Minor, Wq 117 No 2 Ana-Marija Markovina, piano Free Fantasie in F sharp minor, Wq 67 Andreas Staier, fortepiano Licht der Welt, von Gott gegeben, H 811 (Ehre sei Gott in der H怀he) Jan Kobow, tenor Himlische Cantorey Les Amis de Philippe Ludger R退my, conductor Rondo II in D Minor, Wq 61 No 4 Christine Schornsheim, clavichord Flute Sonata in A minor, Wq 132 Emanuel Pahud Eugen Cicero, piano Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales Donald Macleod explores contemporary angles on CPE Bach's life and music.
2019	03	The Sentimental Style	20190703	20220209 (R3)	This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod explores the sound of CPE Bach's music, written in the 'Empfindsamer Stil'. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's music sits somewhere between the high baroque of his father, JS Bach, and the stripping back of ornamentation by Haydn and Mozart. It's often described using the German word for sensitive or sentimental, 'Empfindsam'. The Empfindsamer style aimed to express true and natural' feelings, in contrast to the baroque, and drew on a very wide range of cultural influences: poets, painters, philosophers and writers, in particular Laurence Sterne, whose Sentimental Journey was translated into German as Empfindsame Reise. All of that is far from the almost exclusively theological focus of JS Bach. For Carl Philipp Emanuel, music wasn't about technical brilliance, but all about stirring the emotions of the listener. Bach believed that music should reflect human nature, and hold up a mirror to the emotional world of man. The emotions should be stirred, and this should have a cathartic effect. Symphony in D Major, Wq 183 No 1 Marek Toporowski, continuo Solamente Naturali Didier Talpain, conductor Fantasia No. 2 in C Major, Wq 59 No 6 Christine Schornsheim, clavichord Wer ist so würdig als du; Ach, ruft mich einst zu seinen Freuden, H 805 (Nun danket alle Gott) Jan Kobow, tenor Himlische Cantorey Les Amis de Philippe Ludger R退my, conductor Sonata in C Minor, Wq 78 Laurent Albrecht Breuninger, violin Piet Kuijken, fortepiano Morgengesang am Sch怀pfungsfeste, W 239 Barbara Schlick, soprano Johanna Koslowsky, soprano Rheinische Kantorei Das Kleine Konzert Hermann Max, conductor Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales Donald Macleod explores the sound of CPE Bach's music, written in the Empfindsamer Stil.
2019	04	Reinvention In Hamburg	20190704	20220210 (R3)	This week we look at how CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod explores CPE Bach's time in Hamburg, freed from the court of Frederick the Great, and embarking on a huge amount of vocal writing. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach had felt constrained by court life, and never appreciated by the king. On the death of his godfather Telemann, Bach secured the plum job of Kapelmeister in Hamburg. In his new Hamburg post he had to compose at least one new sacred work every week to satisfy the demands of the city's churches. Bach soon found himself with a large circle of friends, of the kind that he had had in Berlin, including preachers, university professors, and writers and poets - among them the poets Gotthold Lessing and Friedrich Klopstock. In Hamburg, Bach found the time for the extracurricular composing he had always wanted to do. Magnificat anima mea Dominum, Et misericordia eius, Gloria Patri et Filio, Sicut erat in principio (Magnificat, Wq 215) RIAS Kammerchor Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor Quartet in D Major, Wq 94 Nicholas McGegan, flute Catherine Mackintosh, viola Anthony Pleeth, cello Christopher Hogwood, fortepiano Rondo in A minor Wq 56 No 5 Christine Schornsheim, clavichord Gott f䀀hret auf mit Jauchzen, Wq 240 (Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu) Rheinische Kantorei Das Kleine Konzert Hermann Max, conductor Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales Donald Macleod explores CPE Bach's time in Hamburg and his prolific vocal writing.
2019	05 LAST	A Bid For Posterity	20190705	20220211 (R3)	This week we look at CPE Bach's music and reputation in the light of the sensational rediscovery of much his archive in 1999. Throughout the week we'll hear recent recordings of this 'new' music. In this episode, Donald Macleod relives the once-in-a-lifetime moment when the first manuscript was drawn out of a crate in Kiev to reveal the stamp 'Sing-Akademie zu Berlin', and the magnitude of the treasure trove was revealed. He explores how the discovery has changed the way Bach and his music is seen in 2019. The collection of Bach family manuscripts was thought destroyed or irretrievably lost. But in the late 1950s, a few choir books from the Sing-Akademie were returned from Moscow to East Berlin, suggesting the collection may have found its way to Moscow. Eventually a retired librarian in Kiev revealed that restricted music deposits at the Kiev Conservatoire had been transferred to another institution in Ukraine in 1973. Finally, the music was traced to the Archive-Museum of Literature and Art in Kiev. The excitement of the discovery spread around the world - the music historian and Bach biographer Christoph Wolff said, `All of a sudden you understand the creative mind of a great composer. As an historian, I would have to say this was clearly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don't think it will happen again. There is no other collection of that magnitude and that importance around.` Leite mich nach deinem Willen, H 835 Himlische Cantorey Les Amis de Philippe Ludger R退my, conductor Cello Concerto in A major, Wq 172 (2nd mvt) Raphael Wallfisch Scottish Ensemble Jonathan Morton, conductor Symphony in B minor, Wq 182 No 5 Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Rebecca Miller, conductor Sonata in C major, Wq 55 No 1 (Für Kenner und Liebhaber) Gabor Antalffy, harpsichord Double Concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano in E Flat major, Wq 47 Michael Behringer, harpsichord Christine Schornsheim, fortepiano Freiburger Barockorchester Gottfried von der Goltz, conductor Produced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales Donald Macleod relives the historic moment when the Sing-Akademie was rediscovered in 1999