During the creation of sonatas by Georg (Czech Jiří Antonín) Benda the main keyboard instrument, besides the organ, was the harpsichord, and the Viennese classical sonata as a genre had not yet been formed. The situation was the same with the formation of a new keyboard
instrument – the pianoforte, which preceded the name – the fortepiano.
In the middle of the 18th century, the sonata was in the process of its forming both as a genre and a form. The border between the old sonata and the classical Viennese was the middle of the century. According to the structure of the material, Benda's sonatas are closer to the
sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti than Joseph Haydn. Although, as a composer, G. Benda formed himself on German lands and his musical environment was the chapel of Frederick II (the Great) in Berlin and Potsdam, later the chapel in Gotha (Thuringia) and Hamburg, but also his Czech
roots have to considered. So, in his style, including the Six Sonatas of 1757, there is more influence of „mixed” and gallant styles than „Tempest and Onslaught”.
The construction of I. Benda's sonatas is three-part. The first movements of the sonatas lack the internal structure of the sonata Allegro. The writing style is polyphonic rather than
homophonic-harmonic. The middle parts are slow, with a beautiful melody of the upper voice. Still, others are fast, sometimes impetuous with elements of virtuosity.
In the harpsichord sound, the character of the music takes on a festive character, somewhat detached, and is perceived as an element of an old music room or home music.
The piano version sounds different – the character of the sound changes in it and, due to
the instrument's ability to reproduce flexible dynamics, the character of the music in which the mood is manifested changes, which makes it possible to reveal greater expression without conflicting with the composer's intention.
In piano sonatas, the music takes on a romantic character with a sentimental connotation.
The title page of the first edition contains a text including the title of the work and the words after the author's name that say: „MAESTRO DI CAPELLA DI SUA ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA IL DUCA GOTHA ED ALTENBURGO”. The sonatas have no dedication, although someone's image is recognizable behind the beautiful music.
While creating the sonatas, there was a tradition that if the title says – Six Sonatas, then all six pieces were performed as a complete work. But each of them can be performed separately, too.
This work of G. Benda was not known until the end of the 20th century, since the first edition in 1757 (Berlin) and the second edition in 1864 (Paris) were published in small editions
and in old keys that seems quite difficult for a modern pianist to recreate the sound.
Only in the 90s of the 20th century, due to a copy of the first edition of the sheet music that was saved in the Razumovsky library and the work done on the transcription of the text into
modern keys, it was possible to understand that the work is a masterpiece that was undeservedly forgotten by the fussy heirs of future generations of keyboardists.