Previous entries for March 8th may be read here: C. P. E. Bach (2019), Alan Hovhaness (2021), Carlo Gesualdo, Carlo Gesualdo (2022), Carlo Gesualdo; Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (2023), and Franco Alfano; Bendix Friedrich Zinck; Gottfried Wilhelm Fink (2024)
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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788) was an influential German composer composer, and a son of J. S. Bach.
His Quiet Art
[C.P.E.] Bach was so obliging as to sit down to his Silbermann clavichord and favourite instrument, upon which he played three or four of his choicest and most difficult compositions. In the pathetic and slow movements, whenever he had a long note to express, he absolutely contrived to produce, from his instrument, a cry of sorrow and complaint, such as can only be effected on the clavichord, and perhaps by himself. – Charles Burney on hearing C.P.E. Bach at the clavichord
The clavichord is gathering dust,
Neglected, rarely played,
Displaced by keyboards more robust,
More bold, more strongly made.
We’ve read what Burney had to say
About an evening session
Of hearing C.P.E. display
The clavichord’s expression.
His clavichord with frail finesse
Enthralled the cognoscenti
With intimate expressiveness,
(For Burney that was plenty),
We cannot alter history’s flow
Or turn its time and tide,
Nor recreate the lucent glow
Of Bach unamplified.
The subtle art of C.P.E.
Creates a quiet spell,
And hammered on the Steinway, he
Has never fared as well.
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