clavier. In 1695 he published at Leipzig--

"Sieben Partien aus dem Re, Mi, Fa, oder Terzia minore eines jedweden
Toni, benebenst einer _Sonata_ aus dem B. Denen Liebhabern dieses
Instrumenten zu gar besondern Vergnügen aufgesetzet." That is--

Seven Partitas based on the Re, Mi, Fa, or minor third of each mode,
together with a Sonata in B flat, for the especial gratification of
lovers of this instrument.

With respect to this sonata, Kuhnau remarks in his preface: "I have
added at the end a Sonata in B flat, which will please amateurs; for
why should not such things be attempted on the clavier as well as on
other instruments?" In such modest fashion was ushered into the world
the first sonata for clavier, or, at any rate, the earliest with which
we are acquainted.[40]

Mattheson, in _Das neu eröffnete Orchester_ (1713), speaks about the
_revival_ of clavier sonatas, so that it is not quite certain whether
that B flat Sonata was actually the first.[41] During the seventeenth
century, sonatas were written for various instruments, with a figured
bass for the cembalo.

It will, of course, be interesting to trace the influences acting upon
Kuhnau. They were of two kinds: the one, Italian; the other, German.
Corelli deserves first mention; and next, the Italian organist and
composer, Vincenzo Albrici,[42] capellmeister to the Elector of Saxony
from 1664-88, and afterwards organist of St. Thomas', Leipzig, who is
known to have encouraged Kuhnau when young, and to have helped him to
learn the Italian language. But German influence must also have been