Back in 1774, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach remarked about his father’s sonatas for harpsichord and violin that they were still very enjoyable “despite being more than 50 years old”.
In his day, it was definitely not taken for granted that music would still be played half a century later. As suggested by Carl Philipp’s remark, Bach probably wrote these sonatas in his time in Köthen, around 1717-1723. However, he kept on fine-tuning them his whole life: a clear sign that he, too, thought these works were a success.
Here are Frank Zimmermann and Enrico Pace to play this amazing music for you:
