Hi dear friends, I am preparing my programme notes for my ABRSM Diploma exam, and I cannot find any background information on Bach's Hamburger Sonata. I have even looked through all the relevant CD booklets on NAXOS' online library but cannot find anything. Will someone be kind enough to provide some background information on this piece, or direct me to a site which has information? All I know about the piece is that it is composed in 1786 in Hamburg, it is in G major, and it is the last of Bach's 18 flute sonatas, but I doubt that is sufficient for the programme notes.

Thank you all very much in advance!

You already have sufficient information to BEGIN the program note: the date and place of composition. Is it the sonata in G major, H. 509, Wq. 86? You can also add the dates that Bach worked in Hamburg and what else he did during that period. Such information is easily available on Wikipedia.

But the most important part of any program note is what the listener should be able to hear and follow in the piece. As the performer who has been intimately involved with this sonata, you are the perfect person to write this part. What are the main structures of each movement? What is unusual and noticeable to the listener? Where do the flute and keyboard have especially interesting relationships or interactions?

Trust yourself to write your own program note. You already know a lot about the piece itself. You don't have to do "research" and copy information from elsewhere.

Good luck!

I thought McDonald's discontinued the Hamburger Sonata several months ago.