[3] Bach wrote this sonata in Berlin around 1747,[1] when he was a chamber harpsichordist of Frederick the Great.

But at the time, compositions written for the Prussian king were not permitted to be published and made public.

[3] Today, for various practical reasons, there are also editions that add an accompaniment, for example a piano.

[4] The time this sonata was written, was a time that Bach, because of his position as an harpsichordist of the King, was surrounded by many well-established musicians, like Johann Joachim Quantz, the king's personal flute teacher and one of his many composers.

He continued to use ornaments, which plenty of them exist in his work, in a combination of all the styles of this period (French, German and Italian).

[4] The biggest difference with his father's only work for unaccompanied flute, the Partita in A minor, BWV 1013, a suite of four dance movements (Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande, Bouree anglaise), are that in the sonata, there is nearly no indication of dance (except the second movement), and its three movements (Poco adagio, Allegro, Allegro) do not follow the standard format of fast–slow–fast, but slow–fast–fast, a format also shown in eleven more of his sonatas between 1735 and 1747.

[4] The melodic line seems more angular than soft, as it is clear from the use of sixteenth notes in the Allegro movements, broken chords, thirds and frequent rests, all of them a mix of Baroque and Galant style.

Inside it, there are some "half-step" motifs, which represent tear, and it begins with some slurs, adding in the momentum of the work.

[4] In measures 25–30 and 80–85, Bach made the melody sound like three different voices, an impressive achievement of the composer.

In measures 50 and 71, the main theme appears again, the second time in the tonic key (A minor), thus creating the unity needed in the rounded-binary form.

There is high tension in the movement until measures 91–93, where a two-measure C major arpeggio stops suddenly, followed by a measure-wide rest.