Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Sinfonia No. 2 in B-flat, Wq. 182/2

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) composed Sinfonia No. 2 in B-flat Major, Wq. 182/2 (H. 658) in Hamburg in 1773 as part of the set of six string symphonies commissioned by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, the Austrian diplomat and influential musical patron who later played an important role in the Viennese careers of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Scored for strings and basso continuo, the work belongs to Bach's mature Hamburg period and exemplifies the Empfindsamer Stil, or "sensitive style," with abrupt contrasts, volatile gestures, expressive harmonic turns, and an unusually vivid sense of drama compressed into a three-movement design. Sinfonia No. 2 in B-flat Major stands among C. P. E. Bach's most admired orchestral works, valued for its place between the Baroque concerto tradition and the emerging Classical symphony. Instrumentation: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): Hpchd in set. Reprint of the edition by Ernst Fritz Schmid.