Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonate h-moll für Flöte und Cembalo BWV 1030

Among the priceless treasures of the music department at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is its collection of Bach autographs. The manuscript of the Flute Sonata in b minor BWV 1030 is a particularly beautiful, calligraphically notated source which G. Henle Publishers have issued in a four-colour printed and sumptuously produced facsimile edition. The very legible manuscript consists of two parts: the score in Bach’s hand and a hand-copied solo part made by a contemporary scribe. Both parts are also presented separately in the facsimile, which means they can even be used for performance purposes. In his introduction, Yo Tomita discusses the work and the autograph in their historical context. The Bach researcher additionally presents sensational new findings such as the identification of the copyist of the flute part: Johann-Gottlieb Goldberg, who is known to us above all from anecdotes concerning the genesis of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”. Martina Rebmann, head of the music department of the Staatsbibliothek, discusses, among other things, the meticulous restoration of the valuable manuscript.