1030 J. S. Bach Flute Sonata in B minor BWV 1030 All of Bach

00:07 1. Andante 08:31 2. Largo e dolce 12:13 3. Presto 18:28 Commentary TRAVERSO PLAYER Marten Root HARPSICHORDIST Menno van Delft YEAR finished around 1736, 37 CITY Köthen, Leipzig SPECIAL NOTES Probably an arrangement of a sonata created in Köthen in the 1720s for another instrument than the flute. A version of the harpsichord part in G minor has also survived. We know of only a handful of flute sonatas by Bach, and of those only the Sonata in B minor has survived intact in a manuscript by Bach himself. The identity of the flautist Bach envisaged in 1736, 37 for this demanding piece filled with subtleties is shrouded in mystery. But there is no doubt whatsoever that it must have been written for an excellent musician. In 1724, it took a passing virtuoso Gabriel Buffardin to tempt Bach into using the instrument in one of his cantatas for the first time in Leipzig. For the weekly concerts with his Collegium Musicum, Bach often called on the cream of Leipzig Universitys music students. One of them was