It is well-known that during the time of C.P.E. Bach, performers were expected to improvise embellishments when observing the repeats in the pieces they played. Professional musicians were highly skilled in such improvisation, but most amateur players probably had a hard time trying to come up with clever variations for the repetitions that they performed. In the Six Sonatas with Varied Reprises, published in 1760, Bach thoughtfully provided written-out ‘improvisations’ for sections that are to be repeated, explaining in his preface that the works were intended for ‘beginners and those amateurs who, because of their age or other circumstances, no longer have time or patience for diligent practice’. This should not be taken to mean that the six sonatas are easy to play – they actually make greater technical demands than many of his other keyboard works of the period, partly due to the fact that Bach has seized every opportunity to demonstrate his virtuosity in embellishing. Whether because of their usefulness or their intrinsic musical value, this set of sonatas became very popular with reprints following soon after the first publication. In his text about the sonatas, Miklós Spányi gives them his own, eloquent endorsement: ‘We only have to sit back (after having mastered the considerable technical demands) and enjoy the abundant richness of the variations, admire Bach’s apparently inexhaustible ability to compose, again and again, new melodic lines over the same harmonic progression – and wonder if we ourselves will ever be able to improvise such wonderfully varied repeats in our concert performances…’
