It may be that we are a year early with our congratulations on Carl Heinrich Graun’s 320th birthday. Graun’s exact year of birth cannot be determined due to the loss of the Wahrenbrück church records. Nevertheless, we, The Late Train, do not miss the opportunity to play a fresh birthday serenade for the German composer and singer. As they say, one must celebrate when the occasion arises. Graun certainly wouldn’t have minded.

So here’s to Carl Heinrich Graun! Renowned as a gifted singer and composer well beyond the borders of Germany, he was first employed at the court in Rheinsberg and eventually appointed vice kapellmeister of King Frederick the Great’s chapel. After Frederick’s ascension to the throne in 1740, he became kapellmeister, and by the time the newly built Royal Court Opera Unten den Linden opened on December 7, 1742, with his opera Cesare e Cleopatra, Graun was the STAR of the Berlin opera scene.

But we are celebrating another anniversary as well: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, born on March 8, 1714, in Weimar, must of course not be absent from today’s birthday table alongside his godfather Georg Philipp Telemann and their contemporary Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Known as the most famous of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons and highly esteemed as a professional on keyboard instruments, Carl Philipp was also called to the chapel of the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick. Perhaps he and Graun raised a toast with a Stangenbier from the Royal Brewery in Potsdam after one of their concerts?…

Karl Heinrich Graun (1704/1705 Wahrenbrück – 1759 Berlin) – Trio Sonata in C Major, GraunWV B:XV:53

Adagio, Allegro, Largo, Allegro

Georg Philipp Telemann (Magdeburg 1681 – Hamburg 1767) – Sonata in G Major for recorder and violin TWV 40:111

Dolce, Scherzando

Johann Gottlieb Graun (Wahrenbrück 1703 – Berlin 1771) – Sonata in g minor for violin and basso continuo Graun WV C:XVIII:71

Siciliana, Allegro, Tempo di Menuetto

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Weimar 1714 – Hamburg 1788) – Sonata in F Major for bass-recorder, viola and basso continuo Wq 163

Un poco andante, Allegretto, Allegro

Johann Philipp Kirnberger (Saalfeld/Saale 1721 – Berlin 1783) – Fugue in f minor, EngK 28 for harpsichord solo

Johann Gottlieb Graun – Trio per Cembalo obbligato e Viola in c minor

Allegro ma non troppo

Georg Philipp Telemann – Sonata in G Major for recorder and violin TWV 40:111

Largo e misurato, Vivace e staccato

Johann Gottlieb Graun – Trio Sonata in G Major
Largo, Allegro moderato, Alla breve