Symphony No 1, Wq. 183
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
(8 March 1714 - 14 December 1788)
00:15 I. Allegro di molto
06:42 II. Largo
08:22 III. Presto
The Little Orchestra of London
Leslie Jones, conductor
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period composer and musician, the fifth child and second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach.
C. P. E. Bach was an influential composer working at a time of transition between his father's Baroque style and the Classical style that followed it. His personal approach, an expressive and often turbulent one known as empfindsamer Stil or 'sensitive style', applied the principles of rhetoric and drama to musical structures. His dynamism stands in deliberate contrast to the more mannered galant style also then in vogue.
To distinguish him from his brother Johann Christian, the "London Bach", who at this time was music master to Queen Charlotte of Great Britain,[4] C. P. E. Bach was known as the "Berlin Bach" during his residence in that city, and later as the "Hamburg Bach" when he succeeded Telemann as Kapellmeister there.[5] To his contemporaries, he was known simply as Emanuel.[6] His second name was in honor of his godfather Georg Philipp Telemann, a friend of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Translated from German, the full tile of this set is named Orchestral Symphonies with Twelve Obbligato Parts. Besides the usual strings and harpsichord continuo, the symphonies call for pairs of horns, flutes, oboes and a single bassoon.
All of Bach's known symphonies follow a three movement plan of fast-slow-fast, and all have a part for continuo but it plays a much smaller role in the later symphonies.
I. Allegro di molto - The symphony opens with the 1st violins playing the tonic note of D with the first measure being a whole note and then alternating D's in syncopation in a procession of shorter notes while the rest of the strings play arpeggiated D chords until all the strings play D's. The 1st violins repeat the pattern but this time play an F# while the rest of the strings play arpeggiated B minor chords. The pattern repeats, 1st violins play a B while arpeggiated G chords are played by the rest of the strings. The 1st violins then play a C natural and the winds make their entrance and the full orchestra finds its way back to G major. The instruments take their turn in the music that leads up to an interlude for the woodwinds. The strings then take up an agitated theme that is punctuated by the woodwinds. Another theme appears that is just as agitated in a major key, which leads to the end of the exposition. Bach wrote no repeat for the exposition, so the development begins straight away. The material from the exposition is commented on and developed. The recapitulation then begins and as the movement ends, it gently segues into the next movement.
II. Largo - Bach asks the continuo to be silent in this movement, a slow and gentle tune. The calm mood doesn't last long, as this movement leads directly to the finale.
III. Presto - A rhythmic dance-like movement that Bach repeats. After the repeat there is a short coda that wraps up the symphony.
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