Sonata in Eb major BWV 1031 H. 545 – Flute

Bach, J. S. Sonata in Eb major BWV 1031
Breitkopf Urtext ed. by Barthold Kuijken

Is it Bach or isn’t it? And if so, which Bach? Even Barthold Kuijken, a Bach specialist if ever there was one, can provide no definitive answer to this question. As to the work itself, the E flat major sonata has been “demoted” from the main body of the BWV to the Appendix as a result of its dubious authorship. “In summary”, writes the author, “BWV 1031 is untypical of C. P. E. Bach (and W. F. Bach), too thinfor J. S. Bach and too good for Quantz. … In the end, we can comfort ourselves with the thought that in spite of all these considerations, the piece remains the same – even though we cannot fail to ignore that BWV1031 is played much less frequently now that J. S. Bach’s authorhship i s disputed.”