Fantasy in C Minor

While the music of Bach’s second child and eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann (W.F.) is not as well-known as that of his brothers C.P.E., J.C., and J.C.F., his keyboard sonatas and fantasias, symphonies, and sacred cantatas are highly original. Just like his younger brothers, W.F. transformed the style and traditions in which his father wrote through his own modern innovations. His Fantasy in C minor is a solid example of the overt expressiveness and sensitivity of his writing style, a precursor to the Sturm und Drang of Haydn and the early Romanticism of Beethoven.