as standard, that this is a suite rather than a sonata.

No. 2, in B flat, is of similar character and construction. Both
sonatas are old in form, but more modern in their subject-material and
style of writing than those dedicated to the King of Prussia. In the
latter there is a solidity not to be found here; in its place we have
lightness, almost merriment; they were written, one would almost
think, expressly for the amusement of the Duke. The rapid semi-quaver
passages (as in No. 1) and the crossing of hands (as in No. 2) tell in
no undecided manner of the influence of Scarlatti. The exceedingly
light and graceful Minuets remind one of the kinship between the
composer and Haydn.

In a letter to Forkel, dated 10th February 1775, Bach writes as
follows:--

"Die 2 Sonaten, welche Ihren Beyfall vorzüglich haben, sind die
einzigen von dieser Art, die ich je gemacht habe. Sie gehören zu der,
aus dem H-moll, die ich Ihnen mitschickte, zu der aus dem B, die Sie
nun auch haben, u. zu 2en aus der Hafner-Würtembergischen Sammlung, u.
sind alle 6 anno 1743, im Töplitzer Bade von mir, der ich damahls sehr
gicht-brüchig war, auf einem Claviacord mit der kurzen Octav
verfertiget."[66]

It would be interesting to know the two sonatas belonging to this
period, "the only ones of the kind that I have ever written." In the
catalogue of musical remains of E. Bach, published two years after his
death, the opening bars are given of a Sonata in B minor (see above
letter) written at Töplitz in 1743--