C.P.E. Bach – Hamburger Sinfonien

Freedom. After the time at the Berlin court of Friedrich II, which was characterized by etiquette and perhaps also little real appreciation, Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788) breathed a different air in Hamburg from 1768 - that air of independence and development opportunities. The music patron Baron van Swieten supported Bach and urged him to practice his art »without considering the difficulties that must arise from practicing it.« In 1773, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote about his time in Berlin: »Because I have had to do most of my work for certain people and for the public, so I have always been more bound by it than with the few pieces that I have only made for myself. I've even had to follow ridiculous rules at times.«