Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works is a new edition of the music of C.P.E. Bach

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

right|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...

. Begun in the wake of the aborted Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Edition

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Edition

The Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Edition was an edition of the music of C.P.E. Bach projected between 1982 and 1995. Many noted musical scholars, such as Christopher Hogwood, were participants in it, and it had the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities.Unfortunately, although...

, many of the same eminent music scholars associated with the earlier incomplete edition have become involved with the new one. The chair of the new edition is Christopher Hogwood

Christopher Hogwood

Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...

.

The new Complete Works began publication in 2005 under the auspices of the Packard Humanities Institute

Packard Humanities Institute

The Packard Humanities Institute is a non-profit foundation, established in 1987, and located in Los Altos, California, which funds projects in a wide range of conservation concerns in the fields of archaeology, music, film preservation, and historic conservation, plus Greek epigraphy , with an...

. A very detailed statement of "Editorial Guidelines," running to some 52 pages in its most recent (December 2006) revision, is available in PDF format on the edition's website (http://www.cpebach.org).

The aim of the Editorial Board is to complete the edition in both printed and digital forms by 2014, the 300th anniversary of Emanuel Bach's birth. As of May 2007, twelve volumes of the edition were in print, including two volumes (III/2 and III/3) containing the ten most important symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 of this composer (i.e., the six symphonies of Wq. 182 and the "Four Orchestral Symphonies" of Wq. 183).

The edition is organized in the following eight series:

I. Keyboard Music

II. Chamber Music

III. Orchestral Music

IV. Oratorios and Passions

V. Choral Music

VI. Songs and Vocal Chamber Music

VII. Theoretical Works

VIII. Supplement

The music of C.P.E. Bach that was part of the Berlin Singakademie

Berlin Singakademie

The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin is a musical society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th century London Academy of Ancient Music.-Early history:...

 Collection, presumed lost following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 but recently recovered and now on deposit at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, will provide a rich resource of unique materials never before utilized that the editors of The Complete Works will be able draw upon.

Sources

• Website of the Edition.
• Elias N. Kulukundis, "C.P.E. Bach in the Library of the Singakademie zu Berlin," in Stephen L. Clark, ed., C.P.E. Bach Studies (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), ISBN 0-19-816244-8, pp. 159-76. (Includes a reconstructed listing of the Singakademie's Emanuel Bach holdings, published prior to the recovery of the collection.)
• "Finding the Lost Manuscripts": Story about the recovered Berlin Singakademie material.