A Study On C.P.E. Bach's "Hamburg" Symphonies

As a composer belongs to the pre-classical period,Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,1714-1788,whose name is shorten for C.P.E.Bach,was a bridge between late Baroque and high classical period.Many later composers,such as Josef Haydn,Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart,Ludwig van Beethoven,and Felix Mendelssohn,admitted to having been influenced by his music.Therefore,in this paper,I select his six Hamburg Symphonies that composed during his “Hamburg period” in his life,as a case study.On the bases of my music analysis and newly published English and Chinese books and papers,I explore the compositional characters and classical music styles,and put forward the historical significances of Hamburg Symphonies.This thesis has three chapters.The first is a brief summary of the symphony history in the pre-classical period,and C.P.E.Bach's symphonies.The second chapter is music analysis of C.P.E.Bach's Hamburg Symphonies.The third chapter is a semantic study,which includes the aspects of theme,tonality and music style,in these six symphonies.In conclusion,I summarize its historical significances in Hamburg Symphonies.The features of these six symphonies are as follow:1.All the three movements in each symphony are played with attacca.2.His music is on the basis of homophonic style,within which has typical galant style and Emfindsamkeit.3.The structures are most of binary sonata form and classical sonata form.4.The development techniques derive from Baroque period,but the language of music is already the classical style which was developing in his whole life.5.Bold,free tonality layouts,unexpected harmonies,frequent alterations between f and p,and a great deal of distance modulations,sequences,and ornamentations.As a consequent,the Hamburg Symphonies is one of the instrumental repertories in German music history,and I think this set of symphony is a milestone which declares and reflects the shift of compositional center of the instrumental music from Italy to Germany in Eouropean music history.