Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was Johann Sebastian Bach's third son. Born into what was widely regarded as the most musical family in Germany, Carl Philipp Emanuel began his musical studies as soon as he was able to sit at the harpsichord. His childhood was filled with the musical commotion of the Bach household, as well as numerous appearances with his father in public concerts. J.S. Bach's concerti for two, three, and four harpsichords were all written to be performed with his sons. Nonetheless, Carl Philipp Emanuel planned to become a lawyer and went to the Thomas Schule in Leipzig to study philosophy, later attending the Leipzig and Frankfort-an-die-Oder universities. Inevitably, his training and family ties established a reputation for him as a composer and harpsichordist. He founded and directed a chorus in Frankfurt, and was engaged as performer and composer by Frederick the Great when he moved to Berlin. In 1767, he replaced Telemann as music director in a major Hamburg church, remaining in that post until his death in 1788. Although J.S. Bach left his massive musical opus to his sons upon his death and historians have verified that this music was woven into C.P.E. Bach's career (and especially his church duties), Carl Philipp Emanuel nonetheless wrote a staggering amount of music. The surviving works include some 210 keyboard works,\ 52 concerti with orchestral accompaniment, 47 chamber trios of various instrumentation, three chamber quartets, a Magnificat, 22 sets of music for the Passion, three oratorios, at least 100 different songs and choruses, and other assorted church music.

During his tenure at the court of Frederick the Great, C.P.E. Bach wrote several concerti for his employer, who also happened to be a flautist. Nonetheless, Bach found it hard to find favor with Frederick as anything other than an accompanist. Payroll records show that Bach was paid an annual salary of 300 Thaler, while Benda received 800 and Quantz and Graun were each paid no less than 2000! Bach set his sights on gaining notoriety in other ways, spending much of his time in intellectual circles and writing A Test of the True Way to Play the Clavier, which quickly became one of the leading texts on keyboard playing and was published in 1753. The Flute Concerto in D Minor, Wq22, dates from this period, c.1747, but it is uncertain whether or not he actually wrote the concerto especially for Frederick. A harpsichord version exists which may have come first, and a manuscript (though not in Bach's hand) exists in the library of Princess Anna Amalie, so it may have been written for her. Not long into Bach's court tenure, he lost patience with Frederick's weaknesses on the flute and stopped making concessions to Frederick's rhythm problems and faulty intonation. After winning Telemann's post in Hamburg, C.P.E.  Bach still had a difficult time leaving Frederick's court. Numerous petitions and feigned illnesses later, Frederick finally released him.

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