The Italian taste in music which prevailed at the Prussian Court[60] had undoubtedly a marked influence on Bach, and one for good. The severe counterpoint of the North German school and the suave melody of the Sunny South blended together with happy results.
It is customary to speak en bloc of Emanuel Bach's sonatas; if, however, the earlier be compared with some of the later ones, interesting differences may be detected, and developments traced. But the composer's artistic career, unfortunately, does not show a steady, regular advance such as we find in J.S. Bach or Beethoven. C.H. Bitter, his biographer and enthusiastic admirer, has to confess that he was a practical man, and that he wrote at times to please pupils and amateurs; while, occasionally, his aim may have been pecuniary gain.
Of his early period, we shall notice the "Sei Sonate per Cembalo," dedicated to Frederick II. of Prussia (1742), and the Würtemberg Sonatas, published in 1745. Of his middle period, the "Sechs Sonaten fürs Clavier mit veränderten Reprisen," Berlin, 1760, and the "Sechs leichte Sonaten," Leipzig, 1766. And of his latter period, the six collections of "Sonaten für Kenner u. Liebhaber," published at Leipzig between 1779 and 1787. With regard, however, to the last-named, it must be remembered that some are of a comparatively early date. Thus the 3rd Sonata of the 3rd Collection, one of the finest of Bach's works, was composed in 1763, while the collection itself only appeared in 1781. But a table of dates will be given further on.
If some of the best sonatas written after 1760 be compared with those of 1742, there will be found in the later works more character in the subject-matter, also movements of greater length. Practice, too, had improved the composer's style of writing. The later Bach did not return to the principal theme in such a crude, nay, lawless, fashion as the following:—
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In these "Frederick" Sonatas there is as yet no tendency to enharmonic and other surprise modulation such as Bach afterwards displayed. Then as to technique, we find here octaves and large chords comparatively rare,[61] while scale passages are more restricted. Like Beethoven, Emanuel Bach seized hold of additional notes to the keyboard. In 1742 his highest and lowest notes, apparently, were—
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