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To judge from Quantz’s works and from the works from Frederick’s own pen, the taste of the monarch (two years older than C.P.E. Bach) ran to modern works with clear, relatively simple harmonic progressions; works where the musical interest was concentrated in the treble part or parts, with the continuo playing a purely supportive role. It is well documented from manuscripts associated with Quantz’s teaching that Frederick knew and played Telemann’s music for the flute; it seems unlikely that the same could be said of Bach’s works for the instrument. We can safely say that Frederick truly appreciated the achievements of neither C.P.E. nor of his father Johann Sebastian; their music was simply not to his taste. Quantz’s classic Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte Traversiere zu Spielen, published only five years after Bach’s visit to the court, mentions Bach only twice: first to praise his keyboard technique, and second to praise his skill at writing for the organ. Telemann, in contrast, is commended for his compositions in four different genres: trios, church music, orchestral suites and quartets. It seems likely that both Quantz and Frederick might have stood with Scheibe, rather than with Bach’s defenders.
Johann Sebastian must certainly have been known to the court by his reputation as a master of improvisation and counterpoint, and indeed as an evaluator of organ construction, rather than by any familiarity with the works for which he is famous today. Forkel, who produced the first biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, reports that the first desire of the monarch, who gave up his customary flute concerto for the occasion, was for Bach to examine the various Silbermann pianos at the court. (Bach criticised Silbermann’s earlier efforts in this field, but by 1749 was acting as agent for the maker). Bach improvised on each, and finally asked the king for a fugue subject, in order to demonstrate his skill at creating counterpoint in the moment, without preparation. Bach then improvised a three-part fugue on the royal theme. Not satisfied with this achievement, the monarch then requested a six-part fugue on the same subject (though accounts differ as to whether this happened that same day or the next). Bach, demurring on this, chose his own theme for the task, and upon his return to Leipzig composed out the theme in both three- and six-part settings.
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