Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), the second son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was one of the most influential and prolific composers of the eighteenth century. His oeuvre encompassed virtually every musical genre of the time, except opera, and enjoyed a high reputation and wide distribution well beyond the composer’s lifetime. The recovery in 1999 of the archives of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, which include many unique copies of Bach’s Hamburg Passions and cantatas once thought to have been lost during the Second World War, has made it possible to present for the first time the complete works of this important composer.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works (CPEB:CW) is an editorial and publishing project of the Packard Humanities Institute, in cooperation with the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, and Harvard University. Its goal is to make available, in both printed and digital formats, a critical edition of the composer’s works.

CPEB:CW is a “living” edition. As new information or material relevant to the edition becomes available, we will report it. Substantive errors in the music or text of any volume will be reported and subsequently corrected in the online, digital edition. Links to any Addenda & Corrigenda are found in the table of contents page for individual volumes. In some cases, new material has been added online as appendices to a volume. Any inquiries regarding errors should be directed to our editorial office (see below).

Performing parts for published chamber, orchestral, and choral works can be downloaded here. Individual works can be downloaded by clicking the highlighted titles on any table of contents page. (Please note that music from unpublished volumes contains a “Draft” watermark.) The copyright date on the PDFs (both scores and parts) reflects the original date of publication; when corrections have been made post-publication, a revised date has been added to reflect the Addenda & Corrigenda.